The Norwalk girls soccer team broke a scoreless tie with two goals in the final three and a half minutes on Tuesday night, defeating Indianola 2-0 in the Little Hawkeye Conference finale for both teams. The Class 2A seventh-ranked Warriors clinched second place in the league standings with a 5-1 record while the 2A 14th-ranked Indians finished conference play at 3-3.

The match remained scoreless until the 77th minute. On a pass into the box, Norwalk junior Pearl Brown worked her way around a defender and kicked the ball past diving goalie Joviee Wilson with 3:32 remaining. Junior Tatum Miller added a second Warrior goal with just :20 left, ripping a 25-yard shot between the keeper and the crossbar. Olivia Welch assisted both Norwalk goals.

Browns tells KNIA Sports that the Warriors were highly motivated to avoid their fourth tie of the season. Browns says that lifting each other up with positivity was a key factor down the stretch. “We’ve had so many ties this season,” she said, “so I think just our effort and grit that we had at the end of the game just shows how good of a team we are to stick it out through the end and get two goals on the board.”

Norwalk had many scoring opportunities on the night and tallied 15 shots on goal – five by Avery Drymon and four by Brown. Wilson was up to the challenge, however, with several outstanding saves for Indianola. Two other Norwalk shots narrowly missed off the post. Warrior goalie Katie Liedtke finished the night with three saves as part of her ninth shutout of the year.

Norwalk improved to 9-2-3 overall and will host a pair of 2A ranked teams on Friday. The Warriors will face No. 5 Lewis Central at 4:00 p.m. and top-ranked Waverly-Shell Rock at 7:15. Indianola, now 8-6-1 overall, will finish the regular season at Southeast Polk on Monday night.