08 APR 24, Johnston IA – The Dragon Boy’s Soccer hosted the Ankeny Hawks Monday evening at Dragon Stadium. Scoreless at halftime, Johnston provided pressure on Ankeny throughout the first half. With 20 minutes left in the second half, Ankeny was handed a PK. Ankeny junior Austin Lundberg would capitalize on this 1-on-1 opportunity with Johnston senior goalkeeper Cole Hanson to make it 1-0 Ankeny. 

Johnston would apply continuous pressure on Ankeny and could capitalize on a corner kick, with Johnston senior Carlos Martinez grabbing his fourth goal of the year and sophomore Cael Leach getting an assist. With the game tied at 1-1, Johnston continued to apply pressure, and the Dragons broke the 1-1 tie with a goal by junior Lal Mawia, his first goal of the season. The Dragon bench rushed down the sidelines to celebrate with Mawia. 

The Dragons put the nail in the coffin with a beautiful cross by Johnston junior, Kyron Pope, and Carlos Martinez grabbed his second goal of the game, beating Ankeny Keeper Jackson Dockendorff and scoring his fifth goal of the year. The win brings the Dragons perfect 5-0 to start this young season and will face another CIML conference opponent, the Urbandale J-Hawks, Friday evening at Urbandale High School Frerichs Field with a 7:30 kickoff. 

Here’s what Johnston Head Coach James Frizzell said following the 1-3 win over Ankeny Monday evening: 

“Our group has now passed two adversity tests in a row with having trailed to both Waukee NW and now Ankeny and being able to still pull away with positive results. The physicality displayed last night was nothing unusual compared to what you will see with two experienced teams going against each other. That has become the nature of this game. We are starting to buy into our identity and are seeing the game plans and results come to fruition. Excited about the result last night, but nothing becomes history quicker than a game of soccer. We will wash, rinse, and look to repeat this Friday on the road for another CIML matchup.”