Nikes pull away in 1st half

DONNELLSON — There were times in Friday’s match when Central Lee’s boys soccer team matched the speed and skill of Notre Dame-West Burlington.
The times the Hawks didn’t were the times that hurt in the 5-2 loss to the Nikes.
“We know they’re skilled,” Central Lee coach Justin Schau said. “We know that they’re a good team. I don’t think the score shows that soccer was played well tonight. It doesn’t show how we played.”
The Hawks (7-3 overall, 3-2 Southeast Iowa Super Conference) were the aggressors early but failed to capitalize, including on a sequence when they had three consecutive corner kicks in which they had opportunities to score but didn’t.
“If we could have gotten a goal early, maybe things are a little different,” Schau said.
The Nikes (8-2, 6-0), who extended their winning streak to five, took control of the match with three consecutive goals in the final 15:59 of the first half, starting with Jordan Edgington’s goal off a penalty kick.
“We shot ourselves in the foot at times, and that penalty kick was an early backbreaker,” Schau said. “We had played well to that point, but we just couldn’t get that first goal.”

Jayden Nanthen scored with 12:42 left for a 2-0 lead, then Edgington scored with 6:33 left in the half.
“They can finish plays, they showed that tonight,” Schau said. “They capitalized on our mistakes.”
Bryson Sadler’s goal 12 minutes into the second half gave the Nikes a 4-0 lead before the Hawks finally answered.
Peter Seyb got loose in front of the ND-WB net and got past goalkeeper Theodore Reif, who had ventured too far from the net. Seyb scored in the open net to give the Hawks some hope.
Nanthen, though, added his second goal with 21:18 left, then Central Lee’s Mason Sanders scored on a header a minute later to close the scoring.
“I thought, from a possession standpoint, it was about 50/50 tonight,” Schau said. “I thought we did a good job of controlling the ball at times, and I thought we did a good job on defense. Sometimes, though, we would stab at the ball, and that’s when they were able to get through and score.”
Central Lee plays Tuesday against Columbus/Winfield-Mount Union in Muscatine.