Iowa City West shuts down Lady Hounds

FORT MADISON - Fort Madison’s 8-0 girls soccer loss to Iowa City West can be a teaching tool, coach Carrie Burken said, for not just the postseason coming up but for the future as well.
The 13th-ranked (Class 3A) Trojans dominated the 14th-ranked (Class 2A) Bloodhounds with their size, speed, and a skill level Burken would like to see her team reach.
“I said to the girls at halftime that we’re probably not going to see a better team than this,” she said. “For us to get better, I think it forces us to see the level that these bigger areas, bigger schools, play at. You have a lot of girls who have played a lot of soccer, a lot of girls who play soccer year around. So it’s a little bit different. It shows you the level you could be, and the level we’re at. We don’t see teams that are this good all of the time.”
The loss snapped Fort Madison’s undefeated streak at 10 and was the Bloodhounds’ first loss since the April 16 defeat at Burlington.
Iowa City West (9-5-1) scored four goals in each half, and never let the Bloodhounds (12-2-1) get into any sort of offense. Fort Madison had just one shot in the match.
“They’re a really skilled team,” Burken said. “I watched film on them. Growing up, playing at (Marion) Linn-Mar, I know that’s the level those programs play at. What they’re really good at is connecting passes, going on runs, and if you’re not following those runs, not able to intercept those passes, it becomes very, very difficult.”

West built a 2-0 lead in the first three minutes on goals from Anna Goska. Taleen Rahhal scored off a rebound of a Goska shot to make it 3-0 with 13:32 to play in the first half, then Goska added her third goal with 8:38 left.
Rahhal and Lauryn Hynek each had two second-half goals.
West’s offense put constant pressure on the Bloodhounds — Fort Madison goalkeeper Ellie Hellman finished with 20 saves.
“She hasn’t had a night this busy all season,” Burken said. “She actually played very, very well and had a lot of good stops. I was very proud of her for the stops she made. They got a lot of one-on-ones on her, and those can be tough to handle. But I thought she played well.”
It’s now the postseason for Fort Madison — the Bloodhounds play host to Keokuk in next Thursday’s regional quarterfinal at the Baxter Sports Complex.
“We’ll be working on a lot of little skills to get better,” Burken said. “I think it’s going to be a lot of skill work. It’s going to be working on the little things that great teams do better.”