I.C. West near perfect in regional final win

IOWA CITY - Iowa City West and Cedar Rapids Prairie were scheduled for a regional final soccer match last night at Barker Field when a symphony broke out. The second-ranked Women of Troy hit every note in every movement in a stunning 6-1 victory over the sixth-ranked Hawks.

'Their field awareness on the attacking side is just remarkable,” Prairie Coach Dave Kea said. 'One touch here, one touch there and boom the goal.”

'There are moments when these girls can just flat out play,” West Coach Dave Rosenthal said. 'We have every confidence in our attacking style.”

Prairie scored first with a pretty 25-yard shot from defender Andrea Reutzel in the 10th minute. West players said that seemed to calm them down and get them focused. Thereafter the music started to play.

Emma Cooper fended off three Hawks to score on a run in the 18th minute. She added a second goal six minutes later on a through ball that left her one-on-one against the keeper.

Payton Pottratz's perfect pass through traffic to a streaking Regan Steigleder was sharply angled into the net for a 3-1 lead in the 28th minute. Leah Rhodes headed in a goal six minutes later off a free kick for an imposing 4-1 halftime margin.

'Prairie's a talented team and we knew it was going to be a challenge to break down their defense,” Cooper said. 'My teammates made some great passes. We wanted to play direct and that really suited our style with quick center mids and speed up top, and we were able to slot balls through and run in behind.”

The final two goals came again on beautifully precise passes. Steigleder hit Cooper again on a long run for an easy score in the 43rd minute, and Heelah Nadler passed from the far left to Cooper in front of the goal on another run for the final score.

'I knew we would play well just because it's our field and we haven't lost here, but we didn't see this coming,” Steigleder said. 'We saw a good game coming and we worked our butts off.”

Steigleder said West's coaches came up with an attacking formation that worked well against Prairie's set up and enabled players to take advantage of West's wide field thus creating the spacing needed for their spectacular passing.

West (17-2) will make its 14th appearance at the state tournament. Prairie finished 13-4.

'It's been fantastic. I wouldn't change it for the world,” Kea said of his team's season. 'I can't wait to come back next year.