Norwalk senior JoJo Bice scored three second-half goals as the third-ranked Warriors rallied past Lewis Central for a 3-1 win in Tuesday’s first round of the Class 2A Girls State Soccer Tournament in Des Moines, as heard on 94.3 KNIA.
Bice, who increased her season goal tally to 46, scored in the 45th, 52nd and 67th minutes of the match to turn a 1-0 halftime deficit into a commanding 3-1 victory.
All three Norwalk goals, including the go-ahead score with 28:46 remaining, featured well-placed downfield passes and a burst of speed from Bice, who was able to convert one-on-one opportunities against the Titan goalie.
Bice’s hat trick was made possible by assists from seniors Marin Randall, Serenity Madonia and Raegan Holtorf.
“We had some opportunities in the first half, just couldn’t put it away,” Bice said. “We got to halftime and we were like, ‘Guys, this isn’t how we should be playing. We know we can play better. This isn’t how we want our season to end.’ And we just came together and we played the second half as a team. We just finally started connecting and playing our game.”
Bice added that she loves being set up for one-on-one shots past a charging goalie “because they’re the easiest goals you can get.” Two of her goals resulted from midfield steals and another developed quickly off a Norwalk goal kick and Madonia pass.
“We knew going into this game that Lewis Central was going to have a high line. They like to do an offsides trap, and that just sets up those long balls perfectly and my teammates played those fantastically. They could not have been any better for me to score goals with.”
Norwalk head coach Andrew Messer credited LC (15-6) for taking away the Warriors’ midfield possession in the first half, being aggressive and winning 50-50 balls. The Titans took a 1-0 lead on Haylee Erickson’s goal in the 28th minute, but the second half was all Norwalk.
“We just had to change back to our game. We weren’t playing our game,” Messer said.
“We were trying to boot the ball and chase it down, and that’s not Norwalk soccer. Norwalk soccer is ‘let’s possess it, let’s move the ball back and find our openings.’ When we started doing that at the beginning of the second half…I think we had seven, eight, nine consecutive passes, and that opened up the field a little bit. Once that was happening, that’s what was causing so much space for Jo to make those goals.”
The third-seeded Warrior girls improved to 17-3 overall and advanced to the Class 2A state semifinals for the second consecutive year. They will now face No. 2 seed Waverly-Shell Rock (17-1) on Thursday at 12:45 p.m. back at the Cownie Soccer Complex. That game can heard on 94.3 KNIA.
Also reaching the 2A semifinals with Tuesday wins were top-seeded Dallas Center-Grimes (20-0) and fifth-seeded Cedar Rapids Xavier (13-3).
The Class 2A championship game will be played Saturday at 12:30.