Woods’ Five Goals Too Much for City High In Substate Final
Aaron Viner
Your Prep Sports
IOWA CITY – Coming out of the halftime break, City High knew it needed to get momentum on its side.
Down 2-1 to Cedar Rapids Washington in a boy's soccer Class 3A substate match, the Little Hawks staged a number of aggressive attacks against the Warriors, but came up empty through the first 5 minutes after the break.
AFter that, Cedar Rapids Washington began to take advantage of the aggressive nature of City High's attack.
“I knew City High was going to come out with a lot of pressure in the second half, and they did,” Cedar Rapids Washington head coach JP Graham said. “When you do that, you open yourself up to the counterattack, so I don't really like us getting that pressure for 10 minutes, but it opened us up to score a couple of goals and take the lead.”
The Warriors' scoring ace, Keaton Woods, found the back of the net three times in the second half, giving him five goals on the day, as the No. 11 ranked Washington (13-5) toppled No. 7 ranked City High (12-4) 6-2 to advance to state.
This loss ended City High's seven-year streak of advancing to the state tournament.
Little Hawk's head coach Jose Michel Fajardo declined to comment after the game.
The game opened quickly for Cedar Rapids Washington, as Woods notched his first goal of the day six minutes in.
City High rallied back to get some offensive pressure, before Little Hawk junior Temesgen Schumm took a long shot that crossed the goal, finishing in the bottom right corner of the net to equalize halfway through the first half.
However, before halftime, Woods capitalized again on the City High defense, taking a 2-1 lead.
“They were holding a super high line and I was faster than them,” Woods said. “Just getting behind the ball and I only had about 5 or 6 shots, so taking those chances (was important).”
With a minute left before half, City High again applied pressure offensively, placing a ball in the net before the play was ruled offside, leading to the 2-1 deficit at the break.
After Woods placed three more goals behind the City High defense in the first 30 minutes of the second half, the Little Hawks made a late rally, as Schumm found senior John Geerdes with a cross, and Geerdes headed the ball in from five yards out.
Less than a minute later, the Warriors put the game away with a counterattack, as Berlo Nkombe notched his first goal of the season.
The win marks the Warriors first state tournament appearance since 2016, while City High finishes its season at 12-4, dropping three of its final four games.
Did you enjoy this subscription free article? Help keep Your Prep Sports free by becoming a member.