By: Matt Scher, [email protected]
Des Moines, IA – Humboldt boys soccer fell in a 3-2 battle to Norwalk in the quarterfinal round of the Class 3A State Tournament at the James Cownie Soccer Complex in Des Moines on Tuesday.
The Wildcats would fall behind 1-0 at the 24:31 mark of the first half after Tyden Eng found the back of net for Norwalk. The Wildcats would tie things up in the match with a header by Will Orness off a corner kick at the 15:19 mark in the first half to answer the first Warrior goal. The Warriors would answer against the Wildcats with 14:38 to go in the first half with Jack Brown scoring.
The second half saw the Wildcats trailing 2-1 entering the final 40 of regulation and at almost 7 minutes into the second half, Orness would find the back of the net for the second time at the 33:11 mark tying the match at 2 a piece.
The match would progress with neither team scoring for the majority of the second half until Norwalk’s Teegan Kralik scored a rebound goal with 6:02 remaining in the match to put Norwalk on top for the third and final time. The goal was set up by Tavin Ferner’s hard shot off the hands of Humboldt goalkeeper Karson Rubel, who minutes earlier had stopped a penalty kick by Norwalk’s Brown.
With the loss, the Cats wrap up the 2023 season at 16-2 (11-1 NCC) with their second consecutive State Tournament appearance and a co-conference championship in the NCC.