Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – As Emma Potthoff worked her way back from an ankle injury one look at the schedule was all it took for the West High sophomore to zone in on a potential date for her return.

Two games back in the lineup was all it took for Potthoff to make a major impact.

Potthoff scored what proved to be the game-winning goal in the 28^th minute to lift West High to a 1-0 win over City High on Friday in the annual meeting between the Mississippi Valley Conference rivals at the University of Iowa soccer field.

“It was good, I was really happy to be back,” Potthoff said. “It was fun being able to play with my teammates again and being able to encourage people on the field and not from the sideline.”

While rehabbing an ankle injury sustained in club season Potthoff immediately targeted this week, with back-to-back rivalry games against Liberty High and City High as her return date.

Potthaff made good on her plan, playing limited minutes in a 4-3 win over Liberty High on Tuesday.

On Friday Potthoff proved to be the difference in her first full match of the season.

“I was definitely anxious to get back as fast as I could but this week was really important to me,” Potthoff said. “I play with a bunch of these girls so being able to go against teammates is really fun and I just want to help my team as much as I can.”

Potthoff snapped a scoreless tie when she took a cross from a junior Maya Mozena and found the back of the net with 12:43 remaining in the first half.

“I was running in and Maya kicked it, I saw her looking to cross it in so I was luckily in the right spot at the right time and got a touch on it,” Potthoff said. “It was a really good cross, Mya just positioned it perfectly.”

The first-half goal from Potthoff proved to be all the offense West High would need in a physical contest that featured a pair of second-half yellow cards and a red card against City High.

“City High always brings it,” West High coach Dave Rosenthal said. “They always have talented players, they are a well-coached group it’s just nice that we found a weak spot at a weak moment and did it well.”

The win was the third for West High in the last four meetings with City High and capped a perfect week for the Trojans which improved to 2-2 on the season.

It was the second consecutive 1-0 victory for the Trojans in the series.

“Rivalry games are always special no matter what spot it is and City High has been such a rival, such a great opponent and it’s always quality soccer,” Rosenthal said. “It is very, very rare that we have lopsided scores in this game.”

City High provided one of those rare lopsided scores last season with a 3-0 win over West High to snap a three-match losing skid in the series.

The Little Hawks couldn’t find much offensive footing on Friday.

“I always say it’s not which team is technically and tactically better in the City West game or any big rivalry like this it’s which team wants it more,” City High coach Corbin Sholz said. “I think we came out knowing we were technically going to be better, knowing we could put the ball away if we wanted to and I think that mental attitude put us behind actually.”

City High dropped to 1-3 with the loss and will return to action on Tuesday when it hosts Dubuque Senior before travelling to Liberty High on Thursday.

“West High is always going to give us trouble just because of the rivalry and they have for years, for decades,” Schultz said. “I am really proud of them, I know that it’s early in our season still and things can still look up and we are not going to let this bring us down.”

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