Metro Sports Report

Garcia's hat trick sends Lions to state

“Wasn’t that an exciting game?” Steve Dickinson, head coach of Linn-Mar’s girls’ soccer team, asked as his team celebrated on the field Monday night, players taking turns posing with the banner marking their advance to this week’s Class 3A state tournament.

The Lions’ 5-2 win over Cedar Falls was exciting entertainment, and for much of the match closer than the final result. Linn-Mar didn’t lead until early in the second half, but sophomore Olivia Garcia’s hat trick proved the difference.

“When it’s an important game, I feel like my intensity picks up,” Garcia said. “We wanted this really bad, but we were really confident going into this game.”

West counter stuns Cougars, 1-0

Out of an 80-minute one-sided soccer skirmish, all it took was 10 seconds Monday night at Kingston Stadium to end the Kennedy girls’ season and send Iowa City West to the state tournament.

The Cougars held possession of the ball practically all night but were unable to punch through West’s impenetrable defense around the goal.

And in one of the very few times the Women of Troy came close to scoring, they had the ball flop free right in front of the net with 9:24 to go and pushed it in for a 1-0 victory in a Class 3A regional final.

Saints, Warriors trade 3-2 wins

The Xavier Saints and Washington Warriors met in the championship game of the Bob Vrbicek Metro Tournament less than two weeks ago and it was an 11-1 mismatch in Xavier's favor.

The rematch Monday night was as tight as it gets as the clubs traded 3-2 victories in a Mississippi Valley Conference doubleheader at Washington.

Logan Clarahan’s RBI single and a bases-loaded walk to Bryce Grimm in the top of the eighth inning gave Xavier a 3-2 victory in the nightcap.

Clarahan had two of Xavier’s six hits while Reggie Schulte, Eric Schemmel and Mitch Keller combined to throw a one-hitter.

“I had two strikes and I just knew I was going to get a curveball so I just went with it,” said Clarahan. “My mindset was to just get the run in.”

Runs were hard to come by for the Saints, who stranded 24 runners in the doubleheader.

Prairie pitchers baffle Kennedy in 5-2 win

Spencer "Wild Thing" Dean got his nickname at Prairie High School the last few years when he had trouble throwing strikes in ballgames.

It used to be an insult. Now it's a compliment, because Spencer "Wild Thing" Dean is pitching very well for the Hawks this season.

"I don't mind it," he said Monday night. "Maybe last year it might have bothered me when I was having a rough game, but this year I've been pitching pretty well and helping the team out.

"I just laugh when I hear it now. It's pretty entertaining."

Dean pitched the seventh inning and got the save Monday as Prairie clipped the error-prone Kennedy Cougars, 5-2, in a Mississippi Valley Conference game at Prairie.