The Mid-Prairie girls faced Cedar Valley Christian on the pitch at Hillcrest Academy on Monday, after field conditions in Wellman forced a venue change. 

Golden Hawk forward and Hillcrest senior Esther Hughes felt right at home on the Raven field, scoring three consecutive goals in the 5-1 victory. 

“We had a lot of great through balls, honestly,” Hughes said, “just seeing each other, on runs down the line. We were definitely seeing each other well for long through balls.”

Sophie Baker got the scoring started on Monday, giving Mid-Prairie a 1-0 lead in the 10th minute. Fifteen minutes later, Hughes lofted a soft shot over the CVC goalkeeper to extend the lead to two goals, and her second goal put Mid-Prairie ahead 3-0 at the half. 

“I think we did well bringing them outside and keeping them out of the middle,” said senior Evelyn Gerber, who plays in the center of the Mid-Prairie defense. “Once we got them outside, we would play past the feet or we’d play big balls up, and our forwards would run and get it.”

It was Hughes’ fifth game of the season with at least three goals. She has 24 goals this season. 

Monday’s game was played in a stiff cross wind out of the west, which blew slightly towards the south goal where Mid-Prairie was defending in the second half. 

The Golden Hawks have played a few games in heavy winds this season, which makes the long passes difficult. 

“We like to play big balls, so now with the wind we have to watch where those are going,” Gerber said. In a loss at Grinnell last week, the Golden Hawks found some of those long pass attempts coming back at them. 

The Huskies cut the lead to 4-1 in the second half, but Baker’s second goal restored the four-point lead. Kaitlin Martin had two assists as the Golden Hawks improved to 6-3. 

Coach Justin Barthelman said his team did a good job of possessing the ball as the game went on. 

“I thought we won the ball quite a bit,” he said. “At the start of the game, I felt like they kind of controlled it a little bit and then midway through, for the rest of the first half, I thought we just took over the game. We passed the ball well, we looked up and played some nice through balls. We just played physical and aggressive.”

The Golden Hawk starting lineup has four seniors from Hillcrest Academy including Hughes, Gerber, Julia Boller and Leah Bontrager, who were able to play on their home field due to the wet fields in Wellman. 

“It’s definitely a different atmosphere, but it’s fun having your school and people come and watch,” Gerber said. “The field is also nice.” 

The Hillcrest Academy boys played Columbus on the field afterwards, in a game that was moved from Columbus Junction because of a lack of officials. 

Hughes said that it was nice to play a game at Hillcrest with the “boys being there and community members who wouldn’t otherwise be here.”

The Golden Hawks will be back in Wellman on Monday, May 2 to host 1A No. 10 Regina. 

Mid-Prairie 5, Anamosa 3

The Golden Hawks came back from a 3-1 deficit on Tuesday to defeat Anamosa. Freshman Zoey Curtiss scored twice, including an insurance goal in the final minute. 

“She played great for us, she had a nice through ball, a nice left foot that got in,” Barthelman said. That pulled the Golden Hawks within a goal at 3-2 in the second half. 

Hughes scored three goals for Mid-Prairie in the win. The Golden Hawks took 28 shots and put 17 on goal, while the Blue Raiders put 12 on goal. 

“It was just one of those games where we’ve just got to fight,” Barthelman said. We can score goals in bunches. We’ve just got to stop giving up a few goals that we shouldn’t at the end there.”