Norwalk girls soccer falls to North Scott in Iowa state semifinals
Article excerpt
Norwalk's girls soccer season ended in the Iowa state semifinals when North Scott rallied late to secure a spot in the finals. The team's stellar campaign concluded with the loss, denying them a chance to compete for the state championship. North Scott's comeback victory proved decisive in the high-stakes playoff matchup. The loss marks the end of what had been a strong run through the postseason for Norwalk, which had advanced to this semifinal round. North Scott will advance to face the other finalist for the state title.
AMES − Norwalk's stellar 2026 campaign came to an end in the Class 2A Iowa high school girls soccer state semifinals on June 12, as a late North Scott flurry saw the Warriors fall one win short of the state final.
The No. 1 seed Warriors led No. 4 North Scott, 1-0, but a late push in the final six minutes saw the Lancers advance with a 2-1 victory.
"We definitely found some momentum, just trying to keep that going, but I think we got some tired feet out there," said Norwalk head coach Andrew Messer. "It was just unfortunate, some mental errors and they capitalized on them."
After Norwalk carried slightly more momentum in the first half, the Warriors got on the board late in the first 40 minutes of play. It came from senior Addy Wood, who fired a shot from outside the box on the left wing and tucked it under the crossbar for a 1-0 lead in the 36th minute. It was her team-leading 17th goal of the season and fourth of the tournament.
In the second half, Norwalk continued to sustain possession early on and had the majority of the goal-scoring opportunities in the game. Even so, the Lancers kept pushing and found momentum of their own late in the second half. In the 74th minute, Reese Barnett tied things up when a throw-in saw Barnett catch the defense off guard and tuck a shot inside the left post.
Just four minutes later, the Lancers completed the comeback as Barnett tapped a lead pass into the box for Julia Solis, who buried the game-winner. North Scott will advance to Saturday's state title game where it will take on North Polk, which defeated four-time reigning state champions Dallas Center-Grimes in the second semifinal.
More: Iowa high school soccer girls state tournament: Scores, bracket updates
As for Norwalk, a stellar year comes to an end with a 17-2-2 record. Several key seniors, like Wood, Olivia Welch (16 goals) and goalkeeper Katie Liedtke, have wrapped up their careers with the Warriors. While the team will need to be rebuilt, the group of seniors leaves behind a standard the program will carry for years to come. Even though they depart, their impact and support in the years to come won't waver.
"We knew coming into the season that we were going to be playing with a whole bunch of seniors and other players were going to have limited time, but we're hopefully using that time to produce players for this year, next year and years to come," Messer said. "But, I wouldn't be surprised to see some of those girls (seniors) in the stands next year. I don't think this is going to be something that they're going to just drop easily. Very, very special group."
Eli McKown covers high school sports and wrestling for the Des Moines Register. Contact him at Emckown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @EMcKown23.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Norwalk falls to North Scott in Iowa girls soccer state semifinals