I.C. West holds off City High

IOWA CITY - City High's girls' soccer team was able to hold off Iowa City West until the end of regulation.

But in the end, West's attack proved to be too much for the Little Hawk defenders, who had been tested all day.

West junior Emma Cooper put away the winning goal less than two minutes into the sudden death overtime, giving the Women of Troy a 2-1 win.

'As far as the effort and attitude to try to win the game, we did the things that we needed to,” head coach Michael Prunty said. 'A lot of the girls worked their tails off to try and win the game.”

After a relatively slow start, West started the scoring with a goal off a penalty kick in the ninth minute. The Women of Troy capitalized on the opportunity to take an early 1-0 lead.

Shortly afterward, in the 12th minute, City High senior Ashley Smith found room and fired off a shot that found the back of the net to tie the game.

The Women of Troy almost broke the tie right before the half after a ball from a free kick from about 10 yards outside the box hit the top of the crossbar and bounced back down in front of the goal. It eventually ended up in the hands of City's goalkeeper, freshman Naomi Meurice, to keep the game tied at one at halftime.

West had many opportunities to score in the second half but couldn't capitalize. Senior defenders Lizzy Ward and Shelby Burden were able to keep the West forwards at bay for most of the game. Meurice had many saves in the second half to keep the Little Hawks alive. City was forced to play on the defensive for most of the second half, but had a few opportunities on counter attacks. The Little Hawks were unable to do much with them, however.

The Little Hawks were able to force overtime, but West's persistent attacking wore down a defense that had been under attack for the entire second half.

'We didn't do enough to be dangerous and attack, and it wears on you,” Prunty said. 'We're not as deep, and so it just kind of builds on itself. But I'm happy. I couldn't have asked for more outside of winning the game from the girls.”

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