The Pella Christian soccer teams hung tough defensively against a pair of ranked Indianola squads Friday, but both squads were unable to score as the Eagle boys fell to the Class 3A #6 Indians 3-0 and the girls were defeated 4-0 by #14 Indianola.
On Eagle Lane, the Pella Christian boys fell behind early against the physical Indianola squad, giving up two goals in the opening ten minutes of action. The Eagles bounced back and battled with the Indians, but surrendered one more goal in dropping to 8-6-1 overall and 2-3-1 in the Little Hawkeye Conference. With postseason play rapidly approaching, Pella Christian head coach Mike Vander Molen said that the loss was a teachable moment.
“To get to the level we want to get at, once you get to those top 1A teams they play a lot like these types of teams. And so, can we compete against those top 3A teams and if we can that bodes well for when we get into 1A competition as we try to make our run to state.”
In Indianola, the Eagle girls played a similar match to the boys, falling behind 2-0 in the opening 11 minutes of action before finding their footing. The Pella Christian defense tightened up in the final 71 minutes of action, but surrendered two more goals in falling to 7-5 overall and 2-4 in the conference. Eagles head coach Matt Dowie said that he felt a change in his squad’s defensive mentality during the match, which will help them going into the final week of the regular season.
“I felt like there was a shift in the way that we spoke to each other on the field, and the way that we maybe held each other accountable. I’ve kind of been waiting all season to see who’s going to kind of step up and be like, ‘Hey, I know that we could perform at a higher level, let’s do it, let’s get there, and let’s hold each other accountable to get there.’ And I thought tonight was one of those where it’s like we can play better and we can play with this Indianola team, so let’s do it.”
The Eagles soccer teams return to the pitch on Monday, with the girls hosting Central Iowa United for Senior Night and the boys traveling to Chariton.