No. 1 Women of Troy fired up in 4-1 win over No. 7 Linn-Mar

IOWA CITY - During Coach Dave Rosenthal's successful tenure at Iowa City West, the girls' soccer team has always been toughest at the end of the season. Last night's 4-1 victory over No. 7 Linn-Mar stamped top-ranked West as far ahead of schedule.

'That's the best 80 minutes we've put together,” Rosenthal said.

'Our team came out with so much fire because we were playing for so much tonight,” West defender Payton Pottratz said.

Motivation came from within and also to honor the memory of classmate Austin 'Flash” Schroeder, who lost his bout with cancer Tuesday.

West was clearly ready for this match.

'The flow was so evident so quickly,” Rosenthal said. 'They were into it the first 10, 15 minutes of the game.”

West played with great energy and verve, and when the Lions (4-2, 4-2 MVC) cut a 2-0 lead to 2-1 on a Claire Larson goal, the Women of Troy responded with a goal in less than 30 seconds from Pottratz.

'I usually don't get up that high,” Pottratz said. 'But it was such an emotional, great game and we just took it to them. I took a run across the left side and Regan Steigleder played it into me. I took a touch with my left foot and it was right in front of the keeper and I hit it in the air to the right side.”

Pottratz explained the quick counter by saying 'We're fighters. That one goal that they had we just knew we had to keep going.”

Steigleder, Emma Cooper and Leah Rhodes scored West's other goals. Larson's goal came off a free kick and a header by Karlye Waterman.

'We're in the midst of a really hard stretch of games,” Linn-Mar Coach Steve Dickinson said. '(West) played extremely well tonight. They deserve the No. 1 ranking they've got. We need to strengthen our attack and find out who wants to put the ball in the back of the net. I felt the defense played well considering how well (West) played. We're making progress.”