The 2024 Iowa high school girls’ state soccer tournament field is set after Thursday night’s regional finals.
The state tournament is next week at Cownie Soccer Complex in Des Moines.
Here are the scores and a few notes from Thursday’s 24 games.
Class 3A girls’ soccer regional finals
No. 1 Waukee Northwest 10, Mason City 0
No. 2 Pleasant Valley 5, Dubuque Hempstead 0
No. 3 Ankeny 2, West Des Moines Dowling 0
No. 4 Linn-Mar 2, No. 13 Iowa City West 1
No. 5 West Des Moines Valley 1, No. 12 Urbandale 0
No. 6 Waukee 1, No. 10 Johnston 0
No. 7 Bettendorf 4, No. 9 Iowa City High 1
No. 8 Ankeny Centennial 2, No. 11 Southeast Polk 1
• Linn-Mar (16-3) hasn’t lost to a fellow Mississippi Valley Conference opponent since 2018. Its win Thursday over Iowa City West was its 71st in a row against MVC opposition.
• Waukee’s win over Johnston means Class 3A will have a new champion. Those two teams actually played to a scoreless tie in their regular-season meeting when weather forced an early ending. The Warriors (12-4-1) found a goal when it counted most.
• Five of the 3A field’s eight teams hail from the CIML. That includes top-ranked Waukee Northwest (15-2), which shared the regular-season title with the only Iowa team that beat it this season: Ankeny (13-4).
• West Des Moines Valley (15-3) and Pleasant Valley (17-2) will make their 21st state tournament appearances, tied with Davenport Assumption for the second most all-time. Valley’s streak of 10 consecutive state bids is the longest current streak in 3A.
Class 2A girls’ soccer regional finals
No. 1 North Polk 3, No. 9 Spencer 1
No. 13 Council Bluffs Lewis Central 2, No. 2 Norwalk 1 (PK)
No. 3 Waverly-Shell Rock 4, Iowa Falls-Alden 0
No. 4 Dallas Center-Grimes 5, No. 14 Council Bluffs Jefferson 1
No. 5 Pella 3, No. 10 Adel ADM 2 (PK)
No. 6 Iowa City Liberty 3, No. 15 Burlington 0
No. 7 Cedar Rapids Xavier 3, Marion 0
No. 12 North Scott 2, No. 8 Independence 1 (PK)
• Iowa City Liberty (13-4) earned its first trip to state, the lone school in any class to do so this year. The Lightning boys made their first voyage last year and went ahead and won the whole thing.
• Cedar Rapids Xavier (9-4) is state bound for the 19th time, fifth most all-time. The Saints denied Marion a return to state after the Wolves made their debut last season.
• North Scott (10-8-1) knocked off Independence (11-5) twice this season, including 3-2 on April 4. The Mustangs, playing without injured all-state forward Easten Miller this season, fell in a penalty shootout in the rematch.
• Top-ranked North Polk (17-1) is making its seventh appearance, all in the last seven seasons.
• Two-time defending champion Dallas Center-Grimes (15-3) returns. Its only two losses to 2A teams this season came in penalties (against Waverly-Shell Rock and Norwalk).
• Norwalk handed Council Bluffs Lewis Central (11-8) a 4-0 setback less than two weeks ago. Wednesday, the Titans prevailed in a shootout, two days after topping Glenwood with an overtime golden goal in the regional semifinals.
Class 1A girls’ soccer regional finals
No. 1 Davenport Assumption 2, No. 13 Dyersville Beckman 0
No. 12 Dike-New Hartford 1, No. 2 Gilbert 0 (2OT)
No. 11 Council Bluffs St. Albert 4, No. 3 Des Moines Christian 3
No. 4 Denver 3, Dubuque Wahlert 1
No. 5 Sioux City Heelan 8, Unity Christian 0
No. 10 Treynor 1, No. 6 Underwood 0
No. 7 Nevada 2, No. 14 Panorama 1
No. 9 Hudson 4, No. 8 Center Point-Urbana 0
• Sioux City Heelan (15-5) is the defending champion and will make its record 22nd state tournament appearance.
• Top-ranked Davenport Assumption (16-1) has won a record 11 state championships and extended its consecutive state tournament bids record to 17. The second-longest current streak belongs to Nevada (14-5), now at 12.
• Three North Iowa Cedar League teams are state bound, including champion Denver (18-1) and two teams who were road underdogs Wednesday: Dike-New Hartford (15-4) at Gilbert and Hudson (16-2) at Center Point-Urbana. Both schools made their state debuts recently: Dike-New Hartford in 2022, Hudson last season.
• Two other road underdogs won Wednesday: Council Bluffs St. Albert (16-3) and Treynor (17-2). Treynor flipped the script on Underwood after a 2-0 loss in early April.
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Comments: nathan.ford@thegazette.com
