Metro Sports Report

Injuries hamper Wash girls in defeat

After dominating much of the match, the Cedar Rapids Washington girls soccer team ended its season Wednesday night at Kingston Stadium when Cedar Falls scored a ricochet goal with 5:24 left in the first overtime.

The 2-1 loss in the Class 3A regional semifinals left the Warriors with an 11-7 record for the year.

“I thought we played really well,” Washington Coach Chad Hollmer said. “We had ball possession a good portion of the game. But we just didn’t take advantage of our opportunities.”

Martin makes triumphant return for Saints

The last time Xavier junior Lucy Martin played a soccer game, her dad, Dennis, carried her off the field while her mom, Pam started the family car to drive her to the hospital.

Midway through the second half of the season opener April 3 against Prairie, the starting middle fielder landed wrong on her left foot during a tussle for the ball and tore a ligament in her knee.

It was feared she would be lost for the season to a team that was depending on her defensive skills to defend the Class 2A state title it has won six years in a row.

Martin returned to the lineup for the first time Tuesday in a Class 2A regional semifinal with Marion. And she showed that she’s not only back to full speed, but she may be better than ever.

Switched to forward for the night by Coach Doug Graham to give her plenty of action with less risk of injury, she scored three goals in the Saints’ abbreviated 10-0 romp over the woefully overmatched Indians at the Xavier field.

She said it’s the first time she’s been in a scorer’s position since she was a little kid in club soccer.

“It just felt great to be playing again,” she said. “I was hoping I’d be able to help the team get back to state.

“They’ve been doing fine without me. And all of my teammates have been so supportive in helping me come back.”

Fellow junior Kayla Anderson, who scored four goals of her own Monday in the lopsided victory, said it was good to see Martin at full strength.

“We’re really happy to have her back for the rest of the season," Anderson said. "All year our whole team has really dedicated themselves to helping each other and pushing each other to get to where we want to be. It’s been a team effort.”

Martin said her injury, though serious, did not require surgery. “It was self-healing,” she said, “with a lot of physical therapy.”

A salute to Hegerty & 'Herk'

As we head into the final week of the school year, there are many people who are preparing to make it the final week of their educational careers. All these people should be commended for the great work and sacrifice they have put into making the lives of our young people better.

I would like to focus on two individuals I have come to know very well over the years. Combined, they've taught for an amazing 88 years.

The first is John Hegerty. We all knew months ago that this would be the last hurrah for John in the halls of Jefferson High School.

John has been a terrific teacher of students, a very successful coach and above all, a leader for the J-Hawks for decades. John did it differently, and to the beat of his own drummer.

John didn't look to grab the headlines. He instead wanted to mold kids and make them better students and athletes.

John got in on the ground floor teaching freshmen for many years at Jefferson, making their transition to high school, which can be very harrowing, much easier and smoother.

Xavier holds off Davenport West

Bases loaded with two outs and the home-team Saints have a one-run lead in the top of the seventh.

Zach Brown is facing Vinny Cannavo, Davenport West’s leadoff man and best hitter. Strike one, strike two, strike three, ballgame.

Xavier withstood three seventh-inning errors to eke out an 8-7 victory Wednesday night at Ken Charipar Field.

“I had only thrown three innings this year until coming in to pitch tonight,” said Brown. “I just had to concentrate on throwing strikes and pitch to contact.”

Brown pitched 2 2/3 innings in relief, giving up no hits and striking out two, none bigger than the final out of the evening.

Cannavo and Nolan Clark had back-to-back doubles off Adam Pick in West’s two-run first inning, but Corbin Woods got one of those back with a solo blast in the bottom of the inning.

Xavier came back in the bottom of the second with a three-run blast by Ryan Meaney and added three more in the third, capped by an RBI single by Meaney. Brown drove in the final run in the fourth with an RBI single.