The stakes weren’t as high but the intensity level was the same Friday night as the Ankeny Hawks sought revenge on the Kennedy girls home soccer field.

Last year, the unheralded Cougars upended top-ranked and undefeated Ankeny 2-1 in the finals of the Class 3A state championship in Muscatine. The upset stopped the Hawks 31-game win streak over two years.

For the Cougars, who were ranked seventh coming to into the state tournament, the title culminated a remarkable run by beating the top three ranked teams on consecutive days.

The match Friday on a  cold night was not nearly as dramatic as Ankeny scored once in each half and held Kennedy at bay for a 2-0 victory.

The Hawks were ranked third in the pre-season IGHSAU poll released on Monday. The Cougars were ranked second behind Bettendorf but have opened the season with two straight losses.  They fell at sixth-ranked Muscatine 2-1 Thursday in a shootout.

“I am, of course, disappointed that we lost,” Kennedy Coach Andrew McKnight said Friday night. “But I am absolutely delighted with the manner in which the girls went about the game. They competed very well. I’m just delighted with the effort.”

McKnight said the early-season match with Ankeny was added after last year’s state tournament.

“They were interested in revenge, and we wanted an opportunity to play against a very good team," he said. "For us, it was a great learning experience.”

The Scottish-born Cougar coach said both teams lost valuable starters from last year.

“But the Kennedys and the Ankenys of this world are always going to have good players," he said. “What this was tonight was our very young team with some fantastic freshman going against a great team with a lot of experience.”

McKnight said he was more than pleased with result.

“We need to tidy up some minor errors,” he noted. “Had it not been for a couple of those errors, they wouldn’t have scored.”

Kennedy junior Jordan Holmes, a whirling dervish all over the field Friday night, said the team appreciated their coach scheduling such a rugged foe right off the bat.

“He did it for us, to see what we what we would be up against," she said. "We’ll build on this going into the season.”

Win or lose, that was the point, McKnight said.

“I am just very excited to see what we can achieve as the season unfolds.”