OTTUMWA, IA – It's been a long time coming.
Indian Hills has offered women's soccer since 2007, and not once have the Warriors been able to defeat Iowa Western.
Until Wednesday.
After several heartbreaking close losses the last few seasons, including a 2-0 loss to the Reivers just last week, Indian Hills got the job done against Iowa Western for the first time in program history, with a thrilling 2-1 victory at IHCC Field.
The win avenged the Warriors only loss this season and not only ended Iowa Western's unblemished record, but IHCC became the first opponent to score even a single goal against the Reivers as No. 4-rated Iowa Western came into Wednesday rematch outscoring its opponents, 38-0.
Not only did the Warriors score one goal, but they found a way to get two.
"At the end of the day, this is a great win for the program and it shows we can compete with anyone in the country," said an elated IHCC Head Coach Anthony Longo following the contest. "I've said from day one of preseason that the potential for this team is sky high, and today everyone got to see what we can do when we play at our best level."
Longo, who's had himself quite a week, saw his wife Maggie deliver their second child on Sunday, and then saw his team deliver the program's greatest victory three days later on sun-splashed IHCC Field.
"It was a complete 90-minute effort from the team today. The players on the field were completely tuned in, and the players on the bench supporting were engaged and loud," Longo said. "When we made subs, they came in ready to go and the level never dropped. The fan support was fantastic as well and the players really fed off of it. Western is an unbelievable team, and that's what it takes to get a result against them. The ladies showed up 100 percent focused and ready to compete, and it showed today on the scoreboard."
Yui Okamoto ended Iowa Western's shutout streak in the 23rd minute after sophomore Avery Woldruff intercepted an IWCC pass and delivered a perfect assist to the sprinting Okamoto who's left foot put the ball over Judit Goliveras for the 1-0 lead.
"Offensively we did some really nice things. We came out very strong and had a few good chances," Longo said. "The biggest thing all year for us was continuing to focus on finishing chances. Against great teams the chances don't come as easily, so you have to be on point when you get a chance. Yui took advantage and got us the lead. Once we got the lead, we really settled in and picked up our level."
The Warriors took that 1-0 momentum into intermission and Longo implored his troops to keep on the attack and to treat the game like it was still 0-0.
Unfortunately, it only took thirty seconds for the Reivers to respond in the second stanza as Paula Boza got one past IHCC's goalkeeper Elani Mears off a pass from Anna Hall to produce the only blemish on what was a fantastic performance by the sophomore Warrior goalie.
"Giving up a goal so quickly could have been a killer," Longo added. "Being able to shake that mistake off and dig back in to take the lead again shortly after was huge. Good teams don't get rattled when things go wrong, they focus back in and continue to work. I was very happy with the reaction from the players after we had after the goal."
That reaction included the Warriors drawing a corner kick opportunity in the 50th minute as Risa Ogasawara sent the ball toward the Reiver goal. Woldruff and Bailey Wiemann tried to put their heads on the kick, but a pair of Reivers got to it first. Instead of heading the ball away from their goal, the ball didn't bounce the Reivers' way and it ended up in Iowa Western's net for a tie-breaking own goal.
Longo admitted he'd rather be lucky than good on this occasion, but he credited his defense, and in particular K.J. Schmidt, who was an enforcer in the middle of the field all day.
"Defensively we were fantastic. The entire backline was on the same page the whole game," Longo said. "Every single one of them had a great performance, and it was a master class on leading by K.J. Schmidt."
The Warrior headman, who has produced the five best seasons in IHCC history in his first five years on the job, knew all-too-well the frustrations that came along with trying to overcome a perennial power like Iowa Western as 10 of Longos 13 career losses came at the hands of the Reivers. With the first win over the Reivers under his belt, Longo was quick to credit his assistant, Tanon Smith.
"Tanon deserves a ton of credit for that win. He watched hours of film on Western and came up with the game plan on what he believed would work," Longo said. "He put it all together and really ran the practice sessions working on it. Without all that effort, it could have been a different result."
The win moves IHCC to 9-1-1 overall and 8-1-1 in the ICCAC. Even with the victory, the Warriors, as a result of the 1-1 draw with Hawkeye back on April 13 in Waterloo, still will be the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Region XI Tournament, unless IHCC can win Friday's regular-season finale with Iowa Central and Iowa Western would happen to fall to Iowa Lakes on Saturday in Council Bluffs.
"We will enjoy the win today, and get back to work on Thursday to finish the season out strong," Longo said. "It's still a must-win game on Friday against Iowa Central, so we will shift focus to winning that game and finishing up the regular season."
Friday's game kicks off at 1 p.m. and the Warriors will be celebrating seven outgoing players as a part of Sophomore Day celebrations.
Scoring Summary
Period Time Team Play V-H
1st 23:54 IH Yui Okamoto (from Avery Woldruff) 0-1
2nd 45:30 IW Paula Boza (from Anna Hall) 1-1
2nd 50:56 IH Own Goal (from Risa Ogasawara) 1-2