Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

DES MOINES – With a 1-0 win over Regina in the state semifinals on Wednesday defending Class 1A runner-up Van Meter earned a shot at title game redemption.

For the Regals it was more semifinal heartbreak.

Henry Lounsbury scored the lone goal of the match in the opening half as sixth-ranked Van Meter (17-1-2) returned to the 1A title game for the second consecutive season with a 1-0 win over Regina at Mediacom Stadium in Des Moines.

The loss snapped a five-match winning streak for Regina (15-3-3) and marked the third consecutive season the Regals have lost a one-goal match in the 1A semifinals.

“They got one good, clean shot and that was it and most of the state tournament games are single digit victories and that’s what they got,” Regina coach Rick Larew said. “I thought our kids played very well, we had a lot of opportunities. I wasn’t disappointed with a single person, probably just disappointed with myself that I could figure out a way to make that come out the other way.”

A year after falling to North Fayette Valley in the 1A title match Van Meter will again play for the 1A crown.

The Bulldogs defeated North Fayette Valley 1-0 in the 1A quarterfinals on Monday and won its fourth consecutive shutout victory on Wednesday against Regina.

Van Meter will face the winner of Wedensday’s second semifinal between top-ranked Hudson and seventh-ranked West Sioux in the 1A championship match on Friday at Noon.

“They had a lot of good players, they are a very good team,” Larew said. “We saw them on film and said, ‘my goodness this is going to be a match’.”

The two teams played to a scoreless tie until Lounsbury took a ball at the top of the box and ripped a shot into the upper left hand corner of the goal from 25 yards out with 7:41 remaining in the opening half.

“On their one shot he hit a rocket,” Larew said. “No question about it he hit a rocket to his credit it was a great shot. At a certain point and time you just have to say ‘nice shot’.”

The team-leading 17^th goal for the season for Lounsbury proved to be all the offense Van Meter would need on Wednesday.

Regina created offensive opportunities over the final 45 minutes but couldn’t find the goal.

Van Meter junior keeper Lukas Hetland came up with a key save of a Laird Holden shot from point blank range in the 70^th minute to preserve the lead.

“I thought we battled well,” Larew said. “My guess is we had as many shots as they did, I thought we had as many opportunities we just couldn’t convert them.”

The 1-0 loss was the first time Regina had been shutout this season.

Regina had scored 90 goals in its first 20 matches this season and hadn’t been shutout since a 1-0 loss to North Fayette Valley in last year’s 1A semifinal round.

“I thought we might get one, I really thought we might get one,” Larew said. “To their credit they stopped us, not many teams have stopped us.”

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