By Bob Bakken
MaxPreps.com
Soccer: West Des Moines Valley Three-Peats
State soccer champions have been crowned in Iowa, as the girls state finals in Muscatine followed the boys championships in Des Moines.
At the Muscatine Soccer Complex, top-ranked West Des Moines Valley became the first soccer team to win three consecutive state soccer crowns as the Tigers defeated third-ranked Cedar Rapids Kennedy, 1-0, in the Class 2-A state title match. In a three-year span, Valley has now won 57-straight matches against Iowa competition. The Tigers dropped two matches to nationally-ranked teams from Missouri at a tournament in Burlington earlier this season.
For the second-straight year, the Tigers faced a scrappy opponent in Kennedy. After winning last year's 2-A crown in a shootout, the Tigers were able to score the only goal in regulation. Natalie Pearson scored the goal on a Kate Nordquist assist to give Valley the go-ahead goal with 18 minutes left in the match.
Valley ends the season with a 19-2 mark while Cedar Rapids Kennedy also finishes the year at 19-2, with both losses coming at the hands of the Tigers.
Meanwhile in the Class 1-A final, All-Tournament captain Bailey Dorrington of Cedar Rapids Xavier scored a goal and set up the tying and go-ahead goals to lift the top-ranked Saints to their second-straight Class 1A soccer title with a 3-1 victory over third-ranked Pella.
The championship is the third in four years for Xavier (20-1). Pella gave the champs a scare in the first half. The Lady Dutch scored the only goal in the half when Sarah Schuring knocked in a deflection at the 25-minute mark.
The Saints quickly responded when Dorrington set up Suzy Levett for the tying goal two minutes into the second half. Xavier scored the go-ahead goal at the 52 minute mark when Morgan Showalter knocked in Dorrington's assist. Dorrington added an insurance goal with nine minutes left in the match.
Pella, playing in its first championship match, ends its season at 16-4.
The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union and the City of Muscatine also announced during the tournament an agreement to keep the event in Muscatine through 2012. The southeastern Iowa city has hosted the state tournament each year since the sport's inception. The current tournament celebrates the 10th anniversary of interscholastic soccer for girls in Iowa.
On the boys' side, Norwalk edged Denison-Schleswig, 1-0, in the Class 1-A final, as Gabe Crall fed Kyle Cummings for the winning goal at the 79 minute mark of the match. It was the third state final appearance for Denison-Schleswig, a team that also lost its other two state championship appearances by one goal in 2000 and 2001. Norwalk won its first state soccer championship after finishing in a runner-up role to Cedar Rapids Xavier for two of the past three years.
In Class 2-A, Ankeny claimed its first state title with a 1-0 win over Iowa City West at the James Cownie Soccer Park in Des Moines. The victory climaxed a 20-1 season for the Hawks in a year that also provided the school its first state number-one rating and first outright CIML Central Conference championship.
Former Teammates Reunite at Waverly-Shell Rock
Two former basketball teammates at Fredericksburg in northeast Iowa will now coach varsity basketball together at nearby Waverly-Shell Rock.
Nate Steege and Greg Bodensteiner have been hired to replace outgoing coaches at the school. Steege will become the new boys basketball coach, and Bodensteiner takes over the girls' program at W-SR.
Steege replaces Tom Bardal, who led the Go-Hawks to the Class 3-A state championship last year, the school's first crown since 1944. Steege was an assistant at Waverly-Shell Rock for the past five years.
Bodensteiner becomes the new Go-Hawks girls coach for Dave Arns, who coached the girls for one year after a very successful career as the school's football coach. He was an assistant at Bellevue West High School in suburban Omaha, Neb., where his team won a state Class A championship this spring with a 26-3 record.
A decade ago, Steege and Bodensteiner were teammates on a Fredericksburg Falcon team that went to the state boys basketball tournament for the first time in its history.