In a pre-pandemic world, today would have marked the official end of the spring sports season in Iowa, as it would normally be championship Friday for the girls soccer state tournament.
Instead, the powerhouse Pella program will have to wait for their chance to compete among Iowa’s best, which they’ve done 13 times prior in school history. Their qualifying match in 2019 was an unforgettable comeback against a longtime conference rival.
On June 3rd of last year, the Lady Dutch were forced into a difficult hole, as Norwalk scored two goals in the 11th and 13th minutes to place Pella in a two-nil deficit early.
Class of 2019 graduate Josie Lickteig says it was one of the toughest hills the team has had to climb in her time on the varsity roster.
“I was in shock,” she says. “I think everyone was in shock initially when the second goal went in. But we really had to come together and say ‘do we really want this to be our last game together?’”
Pella was able to bounce back in short order with a Grace Held goal in the 21st minute to cut the deficit in half. The Lady Dutch came out firing and dominated the second 40 minutes of regulation, punctuated by another Held goal, this time a header off of a contested corner kick, which tied the game with 26:36 left in regulation. Pella controlled the action until overtime, when in the extra period, Pella survived a near goal by Norwalk, and then put an exclamation point on the end of a regional finals epic with a hat trick completed by Held.
“I didn’t see it hit the back of the net because I hit the goalie, but running on to it, I knew I had a chance and I knew there was going to be contact, and I just played through it, hit it far corner as best I could, and luckily, it went in,” Held says.
That was Pella’s most recent regional final winner to get to state — Pella last played in the girls soccer state championship game in 2016, when they fell to Lewis Central on a hot June afternoon. Pella has yet to win the top prize in girls soccer, but have qualified for the final eight 13 times.