Photos by Molly Roberts

By Jeff Yoder

Will Kolck’s three-goal day helped bring the Hillcrest Ravens back from an early two-goal deficit for a 5-2 win over Highland in the Ravens’ season-opener on Tuesday. 

After falling behind 2-0, Kolck scored the first Hillcrest goal of the season off of an assist from Johnny Diaz. Kolck found the net again in the first half, scoring the equalizer off of a throw in from John Hughes. 

With the benefit of the wind in the second half, Hillcrest moved the ball in front of the Huskie net and Hughes scored the go-ahead goal about nine minutes into the second period. 

Minutes later, Noah Miller gave the Ravens a two-goal advantage, taking possession of the ball near his own 18-yard box and moving it up the field on his own. 

“Miller ran by two Highland defenders, found open space, then beat a couple more defenders before flicking the ball off his foot into the goal,” Hillcrest coach Marcus Miller said. 

While Iowa Mennonite School made back-to-back state tournament appearances in 2018 and 2019, just three starters from the 2019 team made their debut as Hillcrest Ravens on Tuesday. 

After surrendering two early goals, Miller made some adjustments with his inexperienced squad to get back in the game.

“Among the things we did was to move Collin Miller to the back line,” he said. “We like his speed at midfield but needed to solidify the back line. 

“The other thing we emphasized was for the wing midfielders to drop back defensively and for Noah Miller at center defensive mid, to make sure he didn’t get caught up to far, - at the same time we talked with both John and Noah about covering for each other and switching as need be. So, when Noah made his 80-yard run with the ball to score, John dropped into the defensive mid spot.” 

Dominic Bouse assisted on Kolck’s final goal late in the game. 

Highland had lost its last three matchups with Hillcrest by a combined scored of 29-1, but the Huskies were not intimidated in the opening minutes of their first road game of the season. 

With the wind at his back, Owen Donovan scored his second goal of the season to give the Huskies their first lead of the year. Highland kept the pressure on the Ravens and Miguel Rios added a score to increase the lead to 2-0. 

“The last few practices building up to the match, I told our team we need to get our head up and pass the ball more,” Highland coach Dylan Stewart said. “I also told them to come out and press hard and let’s just see what happens. Turns out we can score pretty quickly.

“I think after the first two goals we took our foot off the gas and Hillcrest really dug deep and caught us on two counters and we just gassed out in the second half.”

While Highland was unable to hold the early lead, Stewart saw improvement and reasons to be encouraged about the season moving forward. 

 “Overall, we were a much better team than when we faced Washington,” he said. “We looked more settled in our positions and more confident on the ball. Little mistakes cost us but I’m very happy with the improvements we’ve shown so far.”