The Mid-Prairie soccer girls were, if nothing else, entertaining this spring.

And they were tricky.

The Golden Hawks were the kind of team that would rope an opponent into a scoreless tie over 40 minutes, then suddenly emerge from halftime and score four goals in the first seven or eight minutes of the second half.

Look quick.

The ball is bouncing around the midfield area, and then Golden Hawks sophomore Sophia Baker or junior Julia Boller would just sprint toward the opposing goal with the ball at their feet. Bam. The ball is drilled into the back of the net.

The Golden Hawks scored 69 goals this season, 10 more than they scored two years ago when Mid-Prairie won 10 games.

A dream season ended June 1 with a 3-0 loss to Solon in the semifinal round of a Class 1A regional tournament. No goals that night, but then again, the Golden Hawks haven’t scored against Solon since 2015.

That could change in 2022.

“I think they are starting to see we can be a good team,” Mid-Prairie head coach Justin Barthelman told The News after the season ender.

No question there. After beginning the year with a 6-1 loss at Iowa City Liberty, the Golden Hawks responded by winning their next three games and five of their next six. They carried a four-game win streak into the regional game against Solon.

Mid-Prairie finished the season with an 11-6 record, matching the school record of 11 victories posted by the 2013 and 2012 teams. Over three years, from 2011 to 2013, Mid-Prairie won 31 games.

That three-year school record is in jeopardy next year, and if not for the Covid-19 pandemic that wiped out the 2020 season, the record would already be gone.

The Golden Hawks could be an offensive machine next year. Of the 69 goals scored, only three were scored by seniors. That means the team has 66 goals returning from its underclassmen in 2022 and possibly another wave of freshmen adding to the mix.

Barthelman’s biggest task will be spreading that offense out, and, oh, finding a replacement for graduating senior Emily Swartzentruber, the team’s starting goalie.

Esther Hughes, a junior from HIllcrest Academy who played both soccer and basketball at Mid-Prairie, led the Golden Hawks with 21 goals. Baker had 12 goals and Boller, who missed part of the season due to injury, had 9 goals and 5 assists. Kaitlin Martin, another junior, had a team-high 8 assists.

The Golden Hawks reached 10 goals twice, against Monticello in the second game of the season and against Columbus in the regional quarterfinals.

The wild number to shoot for is 88.

That’s the number of goals the 2013 Mid-Prairie team scored, led by Meghan Redlinger’s school-record 30. Her twin sister, Kattie, scored 14 from her defender position. Both went on to play at the University of Iowa. 

Yes, we have an even more entertaining season coming up.

Paul Bowker can be reached at bowkerpaul1@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @bowkerpaul.