TIPTON

Heading into the Tiger’s den last Monday to battle Tipton, the Golden Hawks’ road trip turned into a defensive battle but this was something they were prepared for. 

“We knew it was going to be kind of a scrappy game,” Mid-Prairie coach Truman Shetler said after the game. “That’s just kind of how Tipton is, always scrappy games against them, same thing as last year. We knew that there was going to be some physicality. We had to just kind of stay composed and play our game and not get hot heads.”

For such a competitive game it seemed destined for the winner to be decided by penalty kicks after the score stayed tied at 1-1 after two overtime periods. 

After making three PK’s and blocking three of Tipton’s shots, the Mid-Prairie girls shouted in celebration, claiming victory with a final score of 4-2. 

Scoring the PKs for the Golden Hawks was Elise Gingerich, Lydia Beachy, and Evangeline Marner. 

Standing strong in the goal for Mid-Prairie was sophomore Niva Helmuth. Helmuth gave all the momentum to the Hawks by blocking back-to-back PKs from Tipton. Her third and final denial signaled the win for Mid-Prairie. She ended the game with six saves. 

“I told my girls after the game, it’s nice to have one of the best goalies in the state,” coach Shetler said about Helmuth, “And I truly believe that. Niva is great in goal.” 

For such a defensive game it was appropriate that Mid-Prairie’s only goal in regulation came from a defender. 

Coming up from the defensive line, freshman Samantha Wunderlich found herself with the ball and sent it towards the net, it was a bit of a knuckle ball that went up and over the Tiger goalkeeper and plummeted into the goal. 

“Before the game I was trying to tell her how to do clear balls, but I didn’t expect her to score a goal on a clearance ball,” coach Shetler said about Wonderlich’s goal. “With the short field we always just tell our girls that when you’re coming up on the ball, if you have full momentum behind it, go ahead and put a shot on and then we’ll crash. It was good to see that happen.”

Wunderlich’s wonderful goal, the first of her high school career, gave the Hawks the lead but the Tigers were eventually able to respond with an equalizer with less than 11 minutes left in the second half. 

With this win Mid-Prairie improves their record to 6-3 while Tipton sees its record drop to 2-4. 

Anamosa 3, Mid-Prairie 1

The Blue Raiders came to town and ended up handing the Golden Hawks their third loss of the season on April 19. 

Anamosa scored twice to enter halftime with a lead over the scoreless Golden Hawks. Mid-Prairie was able to respond by scoring one goal in the second, but the Blue Raiders matched them with a score of their own to maintain their two-point lead. 

Leading the Blue Raiders was senior Chloe Breitbach who scored two goals and the remaining goal for Anamosa was scored by fellow senior JJ Christensen. Their goalkeeper, Leah Whitson, ended the game with three saves. 

Mid-Prairie’s goal was scored by Elise Gingerich. Gingerich, a sophomore forward, now had a team leading 10 goals on the year, already a four-goal improvement from last year. 

Sophomore Niva Helmuth spent most of the time in goal for the Hawks, recording 17 saves and freshman Ruth Whitthoft also saw time as goalkeeper, finishing with two saves. 

Up next for Mid-Prairie (6-3) is a home contest against the Regina Regals (5-2) on April 29.