Cedar Rapids Washington boys soccer moves on after pair of impressive goals

CEDAR RAPIDS - Two Internet-viral worthy goals, one in each half, sent Washington to the substate final after a 2-1 victory over Marshalltown Thursday at Kingston Stadium.

'That's a pretty good team,” Washington Coach J.P. Graham said. 'Their defense was better than I thought. They had good players all over the field.”

The Warriors (9-8) play at No. 4-ranked Linn-Mar (15-3) Saturday at noon in the rematch of a game won by the Lions 3-1 on May 21. Marshalltown finished 9-9.

With the game tied at half Washington became more aggressive.

'We made a tactical change to attack more because I thought in the first half they were really possessing because their outside backs were getting into the action,” Graham said. 'They were possessing and we were chasing, so we decided to be more offensive and attack more so they couldn't attack.

'I thought they definitely outplayed us in the first half and in the second half we definitely outplayed them.”

About 15 minutes into the half Emmanuel Hidalgo-Wohlleben set up for the free kick with Augie Bergstrom beside him from 30 yards out on the left.

'I was at a good distance and I felt if I hit it right I might get lucky,” Hidalgo-Wohlleben said. 'Augie told me to hit it. I wanted to hit it, but he kind of gave me the final push.”

Bergstrom ran by. Hidalgo-Wohlleben bent it around the right side of the wall.

'Previously we had a player run over the ball and we passed it to him,” Graham explained. 'We did it again and so the keeper went to go to the near post. Manny kept it and the keeper didn't see it through the wall. It was right on frame. It kind of knuckled too. It was a nasty shot.”

Warrior senior Aroni Nyikiza opened the scoring with a soaring shot from 30 yards out that went over the keeper.

'I couldn't believe it either,” Nyikiza said. 'But I had it. I saw the keeper come out of the goal. As the coach says if the keeper gets off his line just have it. I saw it and I took it.”

'Everyone on the bench was yelling ‘Keeper's out,' and he shot it and kept it on target,” Graham said. 'As a keeper when you're running backward it's hard to do anything, so he hit it just right.”

So, Linn-Mar again.

'They have a lot of quality players,” Hidalgo-Wohlleben said. 'We have to be really focused and disciplined. We have to want it.”