Iowa City West falls to Ames in 3A state soccer semifinals

DES MOINES - Crumpled on the ground, Regan Steigleder was in pain.

Clutching her ankle, the two-time Iowa City West all-state forward was hardly moving. Immediately, Sheila Stiles, the athletic trainer was at her side, as was coach Dave Rosenthal.

Losing her would be a massive blow to the Women of Troy's chances in their 3A state semifinal against Ames Friday. The game was scoreless with around 15 minutes left in the first half and the Little Cyclones came out tough, perhaps more than anyone expected.

More than a little bit of relief flowed through the West faithful as Steigleder made her way gingerly off the field and onto the end of the bench. The rest of her team steering clear, Stiles wrapped up her left ankle and minutes later the senior was jumping up and down, testing her leg.

Two minutes later, Steigleder was celebrating a goal she had just scored. West went up 1-0. All looked fine.

Then, it wasn't. Ames (16-3) scored two goals in the second half and won the game, 2-1. In the blink of an eye, a soccer team that hadn't missed the state finals since the 2014 season was going home a day early. It was just the Women of Troy's second loss of the year and they'll finish with 19 wins.

'It's been a helluva ride,” Steigleder said. 'Honestly, the teams that we had, we could have won state four times. We're lucky enough to have won it once and gone to state every year.

'If the championship was based on who had the best chemistry, we would have won.”

As the game ended, the future was about to come very quickly for the eight seniors on the team. Two, Steigleder and Emma Cooper, will be playing Division I soccer for Northwestern and Michigan, respectively. Fellow senior Lexi Shaffer will be at Wartburg.

Forward Leah Rhodes will be gone, as will the keeper tandem of Katie McGrane and Ali Tauchen. Defenders Jen Kuehn and Abby Zimmerman will as well.

It's a star-studded group that's part of a program that's made 10-consecutive trips to state. Sure, there will be other great West teams. Rosenthal is a great coach and will make sure of that, but even he seemed more than a little resigned as he talked about his team, sharing something he'd spoken to his players moments before.

'One of these, when I go back and look on my career, I'm going to take these four years of video tapes ... if you just take a look at the types of goals, the development of the play, it's unbelievable,” Rosenthal said. 'It's clip after clip after clip that could be highlight films.”

There were a few teary eyes after the game, after Rosenthal's message to the players. The sting of disappointment and regret will last awhile and the bus ride back to Iowa City certainly won't be fun, but this group of players did something special.

No program has been to the state soccer tournament more than the 16 times West has taken the field. Ankeny, Cedar Rapids Kennedy, and West Des Moines Valley, along with West, are the only schools with multiple large-school girls' state soccer titles. Over the past four seasons, the senior class has gone 73-12, with a 14-3 record in postseason play.

Perhaps an era is ending, but like Steigleder, the Women of Troy expect to rise once again.

l Comments: jordan.hansen@thegazette.com