The Cedar Rapids Xavier Saints staked their claim as the Dan Gable wrestling Hawkeyes of Class 1A girls’ soccer with their fourth consecutive state title last weekend in Muscatine. Kathryn Mettenberg, seen here in the interview portion, scored the Saints’ goal in a 1-0 victory over Dallas Center-Grimes.
On the other side, the Cedar Rapids Kennedy Cougars finally broke through in Class 2A. Senior and Iowa recruit Jade Grimm, also interviewed here, scored a pair of goals in the Cougars’ 3-1 victory over fellow Mississippi Valley Conference school Iowa City West.
After …

MUSCATINE — They fought for position as though there was still time on the clock.
Cedar Rapids Kennedy’s six seniors waited as patiently as they could for their bounty. After three years of bitter disappointment in the Class 2A girls state soccer finals, you couldn’t blame them if there was a little pushing and shoving.
“There was a little pushing and shoving,” midfielder Katherine Lewis said. “This is absolutely amazing. All I want to do is scream right now.”
After sophomore Shauna Happel tied No. 11 Iowa City West, senior forward Jade Grimm …

MUSCATINE — When Megan Konchar puts a corner kick in the air, she knows Kathryn Mettenberg will own the ball.
Never mind that Mettenberg is all of 5-foot-2 and 115 pounds. The ball goes in the air, it’s hers.
“She always just goes up with her whole heart,” Konchar said. “She just goes up and gets something on it.”
Saturday, Mettenberg got her temple on a Konchar corner kick with 22:31 left and the ball trickled into the net to lift Cedar Rapids Xavier, 1-0, over Dallas-Center Grimes for the girls’ Class 1A …

MUSCATINE — One more chance. And probably the best chance yet.
Top-ranked Cedar Rapids Kennedy advanced to the championship game for the fourth straight season, handling No. 4 Ankeny, 2-0, in a Class 2A semifinal at the girls’ state soccer tournament last night at the Muscatine Soccer Complex.
The last three trips to the final have ended the same way — 1-0 losses to West Des Moines Valley.
“We’ve never really pulled it off,” said Kennedy’s Jade Grimm. “Hopefully, this is the year we can get it done.”
The Cougars (19-0) will be favored …

MUSCATINE — Dave Rosenthal posed the question: “How do you top this?”
Two freshmen scored the goals, and No. 11 Iowa City West pulled another upset to hold off No. 7 Urbandale, 2-1, in a Class 2A semifinal at the girls’ state soccer tournament last night at the Muscatine Soccer Complex.
The Women of Troy (15-5) took out No. 3 Johnston in the first round Thursday, then downed Urbandale in the drizzle. How do you top this? Simple.
“We’ll try to top this tomorrow,” Rosenthal said.
West meets Mississippi Valley Conference rival Cedar Rapids …

MUSCATINE — For the sixth straight year, Cedar Rapids Xavier will play Saturday soccer at the girls’ state tournament.
The top-ranked Saints exploded for four goals in an 8 1/2-minute span early in the second half and defeated No. 4 Union, 4-2, in a Class 1A semifinal Friday afternoon at the Muscatine soccer complex.
“Four goals, that surprised even us,” said Colleen Bouchard, who scored the first one. “We came out with a lot more intensity in the second half. We played more as a team than as individuals.”
The Saints (17-4) reached …

MUSCATINE — Sioux City North goalkeeper Taylor Culver was outstanding. Stood on her head. Stopped everything the Cedar Rapids Kennedy Cougars kicked, headed or otherwise at her.
 
Except for two.
 
Senior midfielder Katherine Lewis put the Cougars up four minutes into the second half and senior forward Jade Grimm finished off Thursday’s Class 2A state girls’ soccer quarterfinal, 2-0, at the Muscatine Soccer Complex.
 
The top-ranked Cougars (18-0) face No. 4 Ankeny (17-2) in today’s semifinals. Ankeny defeated Pleasant Valley.
 
Kennedy dominated North (13-5). The dominance was so profound the Stars stacked all but …

By Brian Heinemann
For The Gazette

MUSCATINE — The crossbar almost ended the season for the Iowa City West girls in the quarterfinals of the state soccer tournament.

At the end, the bar helped extend the team to today’s semifinal.

The Women of Troy were taken the distance by the Johnston Dragons last night but prevailed after the seventh shooter in a defensive, 1-0 shootout win at the Muscatine Soccer Complex.

“This is one of those games that you could see was going to go on for a while,” said West Coach Dave Rosenthal.

West had …

MUSCATINE — It was the moment in the game that just seemed to paralyze everyone.

Urbandale defender Allie Brees sent a pass up the middle toward the Cedar Rapids Jefferson goal. Jefferson had a few players in the general area, but the ball seeped through.

Urbandale’s Kristen Sims won the race to the free ball and sent the Jefferson J-Hawks home from the Class 2A girls’ state soccer tournament, 1-0, in a quarterfinal last night at the Muscatine Soccer Complex.

“That was the one time we didn’t communicate,” Jefferson goalkeeper Cara Evans said. …

MUSCATINE  The Cedar Rapids Xavier Saints didn’t freak out.

They certainly could have.
They entered Friday’s girls’ state soccer Class 1A quarterfinals as a favorite if not the favorite. But there were the three-time defending champs and No. 1 ranked Saints, trailing by a goal with 12:35 left in the first half.
And it was a goal that bounced and leaked into the bottom left corner of the net. We’re talking 1 mph.
They could’ve freaked. They didn’t. That three-time defending champ stuff showed up and the Saints (16-4) advanced to today’s semifinals, 2-1, …