Solon, Regina advance at Class 1A state soccer

DES MOINES - He was on his way home Thursday afternoon to get ready for a baseball double-header Thursday night, believe it or not. Not that Marshall Koehn was really looking forward to it.

"We're used to being pretty busy," the Solon striker said after his team made its state soccer tournament debut a successful one with a 1-0 win over Council Bluffs St. Albert in a Class 1A quarterfinal at Cownie Park "It'd be kind of nice to focus just on this now here. But that's part of being a multi-sport athlete. You've got to do what you do, both sides, both teams."

Koehn, defenders Colin Stebral and Nick Day and goalkeeper Derrick Loveless all are members of Solon's terrific baseball team. The Spartans were scheduled to play Center Point-Urbana.

After that's over, those guys will rest as much as they can and prepare for soccer again. Solon (16-2-1) plays eighth-seeded MOC/Floyd Valley (11-4) in Friday's noon semifinals.

The Dutchmen upset top-seeded Albia.

"Coming to state for the first time is exciting," said Solon's Andrew Barenz. "Then to get our first win, too, it's great."

Barenz had the game's lone goal late in the first half, hopping on a loose ball in the box after a direct kick and punching it into any empty net.

"I saw a ton of people around the left (side)," Barenz said of his fourth goal of the season. "The ball just kind of shot over to me, and I tapped it in."

Solon had considerably more time of possession in this one, not really allowing St. Albert (13-8) any quality chances.

"The nice thing about Solon is we have great athletes," said Coach Jeremy McMurrin. "They might not necessarily be the greatest soccer team in the world, but we will out-athletic most teams. We're physical and we're quick.

Iowa City Regina continued its drive toward a third straight 1A championship, scoring three times in the first half for a 3-0 quarterfinal win over Nevada. The Regals (17-2-1) play seventh-seeded Fort Madison Holy Trinity (16-5-1) in Friday's semis, in a rematch of last year's state title game.

"It doesn't hurt to talk about it," said Regina's Daniel Larew of a possible three-peat. "I mean, that's everyone's goal at the beginning of the season, to win a state championship. It's a little more special this year for us because we've won the (last) two years."

Larew scored twice, with just under 26 minutes remaining in the first half and with 3:30 to go. Johnny Rummelhart scored on a header in between Larew's goals.

Those two have 34 of their team's 60 goals this season.

"It was great to come out and get that first goal," Larew said. "I remember my freshman year here, we only scored one goal the whole tournament (in three games). So it was good to get that first one."

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