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‘Vision’ for Iowa City High girls’ soccer coming together with top-10 ranking
No. 9-ranked Little Hawks fell to No. 7 Linn-Mar but competed in 2-1 game
MARION — Win or lose, it was a test the Iowa City High girls’ soccer team wanted.
Class 3A No. 7 Linn-Mar (12-3) defeated No. 9 City High, 2-1, Friday night in a Mississippi Valley Conference, Valley Division battle at Linn-Mar Stadium.
Little Hawks Coach Corbin Scholz recognized that, despite the final score not being what she’d hoped for, the game was a valuable opportunity for her team to gauge its performance against a high-level opponent.
“We don't have very many chances to play teams that are ranked higher than us,” Scholz said. “It's really Des Moines heavy and we don't get to travel over there to play them a lot.
“So, we really look forward to playing (3A No. 5) Pleasant Valley, Linn-Mar, (3A No. 8) Bettendorf, because I know we have a really competitive team and they work hard every single day.”
Friday’s first half was scoreless.
The Lions had several shots on goal, but couldn’t sneak anything past City High senior keeper Claire Smothers.
Smothers has an 89.7 save percentage, good for fifth best in 3A (minimum 35 saves).
Finally, with 25:05 left in the contest, Linn-Mar senior Jordyn Fillner ended the deadlock with her second goal of the season.
“It was really special for Jordyn to score on Senior Night,” Linn-Mar Coach Hannah Clark said. “She’s been doing really well for us.”
The Lions’ lead was short-lived as August Palmer capitalized on a fast break just 25 seconds later.
“I think we just mentally checked out for a second,” Clark said. “They were excited about the goal. But you've got to give City High credit. They're a very good team. They were coming at us the entire game.”
With 11:58 remaining, leading scorer Abi Roberts got the Lions’ lead back for good with an impressive game-sealing header.
All in all, Friday served as a good litmus test for the Little Hawks.
“I think just playing these types of teams, we can kind of see that we do belong here and can hang with them,” City High leading scorer Maclayne Menzel said. “We made them earn their goals (Friday).”
It’s been a nearly flawless season thus far for the Little Hawks (8-2). The lone blemish (before Friday) was a 3-1 loss against Pleasant Valley nearly a month ago.
“(Friday) just showed me how accurate my vision of this team is,” Scholz said. “They can compete. We can go to Des Moines and compete.”
City has some impressive wins in 2024 with victories over 2A No. 9 Cedar Rapids Xavier, 2A No. 7 Iowa City Liberty and 3A No. 15 Dubuque Hempstead.
A lot of its success can be attributed to its nine seniors starters.
“Having a core group of people is really nice,” Scholz said. “I've been their coach all four years and so they absolutely knew what I expected the very first day of practice.”
City High will face two more ranked opponents leading up to postseason play. Remaining on its schedule are contests against Dubuque Senior, Western Dubuque, Cedar Rapids Washington, No. 8 Bettendorf and No. 11 Iowa City West.
“I think we’re very disciplined,” Scholz said. “They're all playing for each other this year. We have nine starting seniors and I know that they're here to compete every single day.”
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