Top ranked Iowa City West rallies to beat Iowa City High in final six minutes

IOWA CITY — You'll just have to call them drama queens.

Top-ranked and unbeaten Iowa City West rallied from a 1-0 deficit in the final six minutes and scored the winning goal with 15 seconds remaining to beat rival City High, 2-1, last night at the Iowa Soccer Complex.

With West Coach Dave Rosenthal pleading for his team to push up in the final minute, defensive midfielder Payton Pottratz was in the box for a cross from Morgan Schmitt-Morris.

'I was exhausted,' Pottratz said. 'I was so tired, but like when you think of overtime and how much longer it could be and you don't want to drag it out. So every single run and every effort you put towards it counts.

'Morgan had a great cross in and luckily I got the touch past the keeper. I think that's what it came down to is us working hard at the end.'

'That was a terrific, terrific game and I think we were very fortunate at the very end to get the opportunity to finish that off,' Rosenthal said. 'Because I felt like we could keep pushing and keep pushing.'

City took the lead on a gorgeous shot by freshman Sydney DePrenger in the 71st minute from the top of the box from the left.

West, which dominated possession in the second half, kept pushing. Regan Steigleder was fouled just outside the top of the box, knocking the wind out of her. With no thought of leaving the game, Steigleder's kick hit the underside of the cross bar and bounced down into the goal.

'The goalie was in the center of the goal and their wall was right in front of me, so I just bent it around the wall and it went in,' Steigleder said.

West improved to 11-0 Mississippi Valley Conference and 13-0 overall. No. 7 City is 6-5, 8-5.

'They're a team with a lot of special players who score goals and we did pretty well to defend,' City Coach Michael Prunty said. 'But the reality is and the key to how we were going to win the game, we have to be able to keep the ball. We couldn't solve it. It came down to our ability to have the ball.'