The Norwalk girls soccer team finished their regular season with a bang on Friday, winning twice in penalty kick shootouts vs. Class 2A 11th-ranked Lewis Central and 2A top-ranked Waverly-Shell Rock. The boys tennis team, meanwhile, saw their season come to a close in the first round of Class 2A Substate Duals.

Girls Soccer wins two thrillers

The Warrior soccer girls opened their home triangular with a 5-4 win over LC. Freshman Addy Wood scored the equalizer with 24 seconds left in regulation to force a 4-4 tie. The match went straight to PKs and Norwalk won the shootout by a 5-4 margin.

Junior Reese Trebilcock scored the Warriors’ lone goal vs. Waverly-Shell Rock on a free kick as this time regulation ended in a 1-1 tie. Five kicks weren’t enough to decide the second PK shootout, but Norwalk eventually prevailed 6-5 to win the match by a 2-1 final. The Class 2A 13th-ranked Warriors handed the Go-Hawks their first loss of the season and earned a small bit of redemption for last year’s 1-0 defeat in the state semifinals.

Coach Andrew Messer called it a crazy night and was extremely pleased to emerge with a pair of hard-fought wins. “I’m just very proud of the girls,” he said. “We had some slip-ups during the Lewis Central game but we were able to come back and play together to get the win over Waverly. I feel like a lot of work finally came together to let us play the way we did tonight.”

The Warriors finish the regular season with an 11-6 record and will now look toward the start of Class 2A regionals. They will have a first round bye on May 19, then host Boone or Creston in a Region 2 semifinal on Tuesday, May 23, at 7:00 p.m.

Boys Tennis finishes 7-4

The Norwalk boys tennis team lost a 5-4 dual heartbreaker to Des Moines Roosevelt in the first round of the Class 2A, Substate 4 Team Tournament played at Dowling Catholic. Roosevelt then lost 5-0 to Dowling in the second round. The Warriors finish the season with an overall dual record of 7-4.