Keeping up with the Hospodarskys

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CEDAR RAPIDS — Cedar Rapids Kennedy sisters Morgan and Rylie Hospodarsky starred on the soccer pitch Tuesday night, leading the Cougars to a 5-0 win over Class 3A No. 15 Cedar Rapids Prairie (2-1-2) at Clark Field.

Freshman Rylie Hospodarsky put Kennedy on the board, scoring her first varsity goal in the 35th minute.

Just 48 seconds later, junior Morgan Hospodarsky sprinted past a pack of Prairie defenders, tracked down a pass and buried it to put Kennedy (2-3) in the driver’s seat.

“I’ve always wanted to be known as the Hospodarsky sisters, or the sisters on the team,” Rylie Hospodarksy said. “I would say sometimes we’re ‘frenemies,’ but she pushes me to be better and work harder.”

“There’s nothing that can replace what they do,” Kennedy Coach Austin Ha said. “Speed-wise, soccer IQ, the hard work and just the teammates they are … everybody feeds off of it.”

Morgan Hospodarsky is Kennedy’s leading scorer with four goals, while Rylie Hospodarsky leads in assists with five.

“They can get at each other, but on the field, somehow it disappears,” Ha said. “They might show up mad at each other, like today, and all of a sudden they’re best friends on the field, giving each other high fives.”

Tuesday’s win capped a standout few days for the Hospodarsky sisters, who are balancing two varsity sports this spring.

On April 12, the speedy duo helped Kennedy’s sprint medley relay team qualify for the Drake Relays with a time of 1:49.54.

Individually, Morgan Hospodarsky is Kennedy’s top performer in the 100 meters; Rylie Hospodarsky runs tops in the 400. Together, they make up half of the school’s 4x200-meter relay team, which also has its sights set on Drake.

“It’s fun seeing people’s expressions when we tell them we do both varsity sports at the same time,” Morgan Hospodarsky said. “They’re just shocked.”

“A lot falls on their shoulders,” Ha said. “All the communication comes from them. Our job as coaches is just to make sure they’re supported, safe and healthy.”

Tuesday’s soccer match kicked off at 7:30 p.m. — just three hours after track practice wrapped up.

“It was a pretty easy day because it was meet prep,” Morgan Hospodarsky said. “We really just practiced our handoffs.”

Still, 80 minutes on a soccer field just hours after sprinting laps around a track?

It’s in their blood.

“Our dad was a runner,” Morgan Hospodarsky said. “When we were younger, he pushed us to run, get that speed and be more physically fit. Our mom ran track, too.”

“She makes sure we’re eating a lot of healthy foods and staying hydrated,” Rylie Hospodarsky said. “Our mom loves recovery, too. As soon as we get home, she makes sure we do the Normatec (compression recovery) and stretch.”

Clearly, their maintenance routine is working. That’s good news for a Kennedy squad looking to build momentum from Tuesday’s victory.

“We really needed this win,” Morgan Hospodarsky said. “It helped us relieve the pressure, because going into this game we were definitely a little stressed about it.”

All of Kennedy’s losses have come in close contests against ranked teams: 3A No. 11 Dowling (1-0), No. 9 Johnston (2-1) and 2A No. 3 Davenport Assumption (2-0).

Now, the Cougars are riding back-to-back wins over ranked opponents, including a 2-1 victory over 2A No. 11 Marion on April 11.

“We’re definitely a growing team,” Rylie Hospodarsky said. “We’re all getting closer with each other, building more chemistry and hopefully we can keep winning.”