Douglas Miles

Your Prep Sports

DES MOINES – Laird Holden calls them the ‘absolute backbone of the team.’

The Iowa City Regina senior – who ranks third in the state across all classes with 40 goals this season – directs that effusive praise to his defensive backline, which continues to make the job of Holden and the Regals’ other goal scorers much, much easier.

“Without them, I think everything falls apart,” Holden said after No. 1 Regina smothered eighth-seeded Grundy Center/Gladbrook-Reinbeck, 7-1, in a Class 1A boys soccer state quarterfinal Monday night at Mediacom Stadium in Des Moines. “Knowing that you can do whatever you want upstairs, at the top, and you’ve got a solid defense to back you up, it’s a really good feeling. It gives you a nice, warm feeling of safety. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

The Regals’ backline of seniors Drew Greve and Kyle Tracy, plus junior Aidan Arthur have formed a stingy until behind senior midfielder Ethan Beard and in front of senior goalkeeper Nolan Leick.

The group has shut out 11 opponents and has not surrendered more than one goal in a match since April 6 when Regina trounced Monticello, 12-2.

“Our defense, we have some really solid guys back there that just start it,” Greve said. “I feel confident in all the guys back there with me. We can make plays, we can distribute and then all of a sudden it is in our offensive guy’s hands. We have some really good players. It’s fun to watch.”

Regina Coach Rick Larew – the proud architect of eight state championships – knows good defensive players when he sees them and he feels Greve is arguably the best defensive sweeper in the state no matter the class.

“Drew in the back is just a force unto himself,” Larew said. “He organizes that defense. We had a game plan and that was to stop their long balls in the air and I thought we did a good job with that. The kids stepped up and did that, So I was very pleased. They implemented our defensive game plan.”

Against GC/G-R, Holden – who will play collegiate soccer at Division-III St. John’s (Minn.) University – posted three goals and two assists, while fellow senior Evan White added his 24th tally this season.

Greve, Gabriel Hegelheimer and Franco Padron also registered goals for Regina (19-0-1), which will play a 1A state semifinal Thursday at noon at Mediacom Stadium against fourth-seeded West Central Valley (15-1-1).

Win there, and the Regals will reach the 1A state championship match for the first time since the last of their eight state titles in 2019.

“We watched them for a few minutes before we went into the locker room,” Larew said. “We’ll wait and see. We’ll take a look at them on film and see what they look like. What we mostly do is just play our game.”

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