Iowa City West headed back to girls’ soccer state tournament

IOWA CITY — With less than 20 seconds left in the first half, Iowa City West senior Leah Rhodes looked up at the clock in desperation. She knew she was running out of time.

Quickly, she broke for the goal. Forward Emma Cooper passed up the ball, and Rhodes took her shot. With just 11 seconds left before half, Rhodes found the back of the net, breaking the stalemate between the Women of Troy and Cedar Rapids Prairie.

'It was huge,' Rhodes said. 'It was a little give and go to (Emma). I looked at the clock and it said 18 seconds, and I was like, 'I have to get this.' I knew I had to get it in. I'm just glad I was able to finish it.'

From there, the flood gates opened up. The Women of Troy dominated the second half in Monday's Class 3A regional final at West High School, adding three more goals en route to a 4-1 win against Prairie to earn a return trip to the state tournament.

The three goals came relatively easy for West in the second half, as it quickly added to the slim lead it had at the break. Seniors Lexi Shaffer and Regan Steigleder each tacked on a goal early in the second half, and sophomore Rachel Olson knocked in one more with less than five minutes to play to seal the deal.

Had it not been for Rhoades' goal, though, Shaffer thought things wouldn't have gone as smoothly in the second half.

'I think we just all started to settle down (after that goal) and realized that we can play our own game and our own style,' Shaffer said. 'We don't have to rush everything, we don't have to force everything, just kind of pass like we always do and settle down, and just play our soccer, play our game.'

The Women of Troy will now make a return trip to the state tournament with hopes of avenging their loss to Ankeny Centennial in last year's championship game.

That loss, Rhodes said, is something that has stuck with her constantly since last season — and has really motivated her and her team to make a successful return trip to the championship.

'That was a hard game,' Rhodes said. 'Centennial played really, really well and they had us on our toes the entire game. But I'm expecting a good run this time ... It was a really tough loss. I still think about it. But I'm ready to go all the way this time.'

West (17-1) will play seventh-seeded West Des Moines Dowling (12-5) in the quarterfinals of the state tournament at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Cownie Park in Des Moines. And while avenging last year's loss in the title game will likely be on many of the girls' minds all week long, West Coach David Rosenthal said it's his job to keep them focused. They can't afford to look ahead.

'We have to take it one game at a time,' Rosenthal said. 'We're only going to plan for the Thursday game and see what happens with the Thursday game. We'll look at what we might have Friday and Saturday, but we play one game at a time, so we'll start with the Thursday game and focus on that.'

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