MASON CITY, IA – No. 17-rated Indian Hills battled ICCAC foe NIACC and extreme blustery conditions to pitch its second shutout in as many outings this season, topping the host Trojans Sunday, 4-0.
The Warriors followed up last Thursday's 5-0 blanking of Southeastern in the season opener with four more unanswered goals on Sunday. Despite what appeared to be a relatively easy victory, IHCC Head Coach Anthony Longo had a different assessment.
"That was a struggle," Longo said. "We had to really grind it out for a full 90 minutes. The winds were just massive and the way they were blowing made it less than ideal conditions to play in. Credit NIACC, who came out energized and made life difficult."
With the wind at their backs in the first half, the Warriors were able to find the back of the net a pair of times against NIACC (0-1). Even with a 2-0 lead going into intermission, Longo felt the advantage should have been greater.
"The first half was a pretty frustrating performance," Longo said. "The wind gave us a great advantage, but we were unable to capitalize as much as I would have liked so that we could have put the game away early."
Nineteen minutes in, sophomore K.J. Schmidt picked up her second goal of the season off an assist from Bailey Wiemann to put the Warriors up 1-0. With just 1:28 remaining before intermission, Wiemann would collect her second goal of the year off a corner kick from Risa Ogasawara to make it 2-0 heading into halftime.
The wind was not in the Warriors' favor in the second stanza, but despite the disadvantage, Longo was liked what he saw from his squad.
"The second half was a little more of what I wanted to see," Longo added. "That being said, we couldn't quite put the game out of reach until nearly fulltime."
Ogasawara took an assist from Schmidt with 5:13 left in regulation and found the back of the net to hand the Warriors a commanding 3-0 advantage with the clock winding down. The goal was Ogasawara's second of the 2021 season as well.
Freshman Makayla Reed put an exclamation point on the ICCAC victory with her first collegiate goal with just under two minutes to play and the wind-blown Warriors would leave Mason City with another shutout. Reed's goal came after a nifty pass from Madison K. Meyer reached Wiemann who slotted it over to Reed for the finish.
"It was great to see multiple forwards get on the scoresheet again," Longo said. "This forward group has done a great job putting the ball in the net, and it seems like each player steps up at different times. We are a dangerous team offensively."
IHCC, now 2-0 overall and 1-0 in the ICCAC will host Scott Community College on Wednesday. Game time from IHCC Field is set for 3 p.m.
"At the end of the day, we went on the road and got the job done," Longo concluded. "The end result is what is most important. A win is a win and we move on to the next one on Wednesday."
Scoring Summary
Per. Time Team Play V-H
1st 19:05 IH K.J. Schmidt (from Bailey Wiemann) 1-0
1st 43:32 IH Wiemann (from Risa Ogasawara) 2-0
2nd 84:47 IH Ogasawara (from Schmidt) 3-0
2nd 88:02 IH Makayla Reed (from Wiemann) 4-0