Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Newly ranked West High extended its winning streak to five on Thursday evening.

The latest win for the red-hot Trojans had a little bit of extra meaning.

A day after making its season debut in the Iowa Girls High School athletic rankings Class 3A No. 15 West High earned a 2-0 win over City High (1-5) in a cross-town showdown at the University of Iowa Soccer Complex in Iowa City.

“This is one of our biggest rivals and this is the most important game I think to everyone here,” West High senior Alexandria Held said. “Everyone looks forward to this game specifically because we get to play here and we get to play our cross-town rival and it’s for everything.”

Senior Anna Goska and freshman Wad Haroun each had goals in a span of less than 90 seconds late in the first half to lift West High to a second consecutive shutout win over City High.

West High earned a 4-0 win over the Little Hawks last season.

“I just always tell to hem to enjoy the moment because that’s really what being able to play in this environment is about is just being able to enjoy the moment and have a competitive game against a rival,” West High coach Zach Serovy said. “It’s always a fun game which makes it special.”

Goska snapped a scoreless tie with her team-leading 11^th goal of the season with 7:28 remaining in the opening half.

“I definitely missed a few in the first half and I could just feel one coming,” Goska said. “I saw the ball come to me and I knew could just find the corner past the keeper.”

Goska slipped a shot pas the outstretched hands of City High senior keeper Mira Gollnick to give the Trojans a lead they would never give up.

“Mira is a good keeper definitely but I knew I could get one past here,” Goska said. “It felt really good.”

Haroun extended the lead to 2-0 a little more than a minute later when the freshman put away a loose ball in front of the net with 6:17 remaining in the opening half.

“We are moving the ball better is the big thing,” Serovy said. “We are connecting to feet and moving it better and we are just more clinical in front of goal which is helping as well and that’s really nice to see.”

The win was the fifth in a row for West High since a 3-0 loss at sixth-ranked Bettendorf on April 9.

Since the loss to the Bulldogs earlier this month West High has outscored opponents by a combined 28-4.

“I think we’ve just been really working hard in practice,” Held said. “At the beginning of the season we were trying to still figure things out but we’ve figured some things out now and it’s really starting to show.”

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