Regina keeps firing to get past St. Albert in state quarterfinals

DES MOINES — After a first half in which Iowa City Regina peppered the St. Albert goal with 18 shots but remained in a 1-1 tie, fans might have worried the Regals didn't take full advantage of the gusty wind from the south.

Not to worry.

The Regals aggressively attacked again in the second half and came away with a 2-1 Class 1A girls' state soccer quarterfinal victory over the Saintes in a game played in 93-degree heat.

Second-ranked Regina (14-5) advances to Friday's semifinal against No. 3 Waterloo Columbus (16-4).

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'What we told them is that what you're doing is what we want you to be doing,' Regina Coach Ann Larew said. 'It just happened that in the first half we dominated possession, we could get a lot of shots, but it wasn't our day to get them in the goal.'

So the message was keep making the same runs and combining on passes, 'but come out with the same intensity,' Larew said.

'No let down. That was the key especially on a day like today. I was so proud of them. They've been working so hard.'

Regina's winning goal came in the 56th minute when Anna Ziniel passed to Jenny Wick, who threaded her way through three defenders to free herself for a shot.

'After missing that PK I knew I had to step up for my team,' Wick said, referring to a missed PK in the first half. 'I was just looking for combinations, any way to get it in the back of the net. We were getting the right looks; we just needed to capitalize on them.'

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Lauren Gaarde scored Regina's first goal off a corner by Ziniel in the eighth minute.

'It was just a great ball by Anna,' Gaarde said. 'I was just in the back, and I hit it in with my knee. She placed it perfectly. There was no one on me.'

Regina's defense in combination with the offense's ability to possess, thwarted the Saintes' attack. The only St. Albert goal came on a PK.

'I think we knew we could get all the shots we wanted but we really needed to focus on our defense especially with the wind in the second half we had to drop off way earlier so we'd stay ahead of our girl,' defender Kennedy Brown said.