Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – A sluggish start to the season for City High culminated with a disappointing loss to cross-town rival West High.

That 1-0 setback to West High was the low point in a 1-3 stretch to open the season for the Little Hawks.

It also provided the spark City High needed.

City High has won four straight since its April 14 loss to West High after posting a 3-0 win over Class 3A No. 12 Dubuque Hempstead in a Mississippi Valley Conference Valley Division match on Thursday in Iowa City.

“After the West game we were all so frustrated,” City High senior Claire Brown said. “We knew we didn’t play to our full potential in that game and we had Liberty coming the next week and we brought it together for that one and ever since that we’ve really been together.”

Since it’s loss to West High the Little Hawks have been impressive, outscoring opponents 16-0 in four straight wins.

City High improved to 5-3 on the season with its fourth consecutive shutout on Thursday while Dubuque Hempstead dropped to 8-2.

“I think it was just a mentality thing,” City High coach Corbin Scholz said. “We have really good players and everyone loves to play together so it was just get that mental block out of the way and figuring out where people are going to be on the field.”

City High scored twice in the final eight minutes of the opening half to take control of the match on Thursday.

Both scoring strikes late in the first half came in similar fashion as City High played balls into the box from distance and had a player finish from point blank range.

Brown started the scoring when she put away a loose ball in front of the goal with 7:28 remaining in the first half.

“At practice we’ve been working on shots from further out and I knew that somebody was going to shoot it because we had in the final thirty for like 15 minutes,” Brown said. “My instinct was as soon as we shot it I had to follow it.”

Less than five minutes later junior Maclayne Menzel gave City High a 2-0 cushion when she headed in a Kelsey Dilanni deep pass with 2:45 remaining in the first half.

The third goal of the season for Menzel gave the Little Hawks a 2-0 lead at the half.

“It was just a really good ball by Kelsey,” Menzel said. “I knew if I could get in there I could score and it was just a really good ball.”

City High capped the scoring when Dilanni added her own goal ripping in a rebound shot from just inside the box with 20:55 remaining.

It was the second goal of the season for Dilanni who has a team-high five assists.

“I think throughout the season we’ve become more of a team,” Brown said. “We’ve done a lot of team bonding things and I think on and off the field we are more together and we are translating that onto the field in the way we play.”

The win continued a surge for City High that started with an 8-0 win over Dubuque Senior and has included victories over Liberty High (4-0) and Cedar Rapids Kennedy (1-0).

City High will travel to 2-6 Waterloo West on Tuesday before hosting seventh-ranked Linn-Mar on May 5.

“Moving forward I think the biggest thing is just taking every game one at a time,” Scholz said. “We can’t let anything slide, we can’t let any team with any record get in our way.”

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