DES MOINES – Top-seeded Iowa City West isn’t a team that needs many breaks.

The Trojans have speed, power and skill and in Thursday’s Class 3A state quarterfinal match-up with Cedar Rapids Washington, they got an early break that set the tone for the entire match.

West’s  Mueng Sunday broke loose in the penalty area and was taken down just 51 seconds into play. Ben Troester then stepped up and banged the free kick past Washington keeper Gunnar Lenzen. The Trojans added two more first-half goals and went on to a 3-0 victory over the Warriors at the Cownie Soccer Complex.

Top-ranked West (18-1) avenged its only loss of the season, a 1-0 loss in penalty kicks in the opener. The Trojans move on to Friday’s semifinals against Cedar Rapids Kennedy. The Cougars advanced with a 2-1 win over Sioux City West.

“It’s tough to dig a hole against a team like these guys,” said Washington Coach J.P. Graham, whose team finished at 14-5. “It’s hard to come back from that, but we gave ourselves plenty of chances.  I was happy about that, but the difference was that one team finished the chances they had and the other didn’t.”

West Coach Brad Stiles, whose team is in search of the school’s seventh state championship, felt the early goal was a big advantage for the Trojans.

“Any coach would love an early goal, especially with less than a minute gone,” Stiles said. “I thought it was a good call and a good run by my forward. Sometimes, that’s just the way it goes and I have been on the other end of that many times.”

Washington senior forward Jack Sundermann didn’t think the early goal diminished the Warriors’ determination.

“It was just one of those unlucky things that can happen at the beginning of a game,” he said. “I don’t think it affected us too much because it happened so early in the game. I think we still really had our heads in the game.”

After the early goal, as Sundermann suggested, the Warriors were able to put some pressure on the Trojans.  About midway through the first half, senior Kimu Kasha fired one hard at the net that West keeper Ryan Holte was able to tip over the crossbar.

West scored its second goal on a free kick after a penalty call on Evan Fisher, who thought he had made a clean tackle. Paris Martins took the free kick from about 25 yards out and ripped it past Lenzen for a 2-0 advantage.

It became 3-0 when West’s Aaron Miller scored on a header on a long cross from Troester with 8:33 left in the half.

Washington had a chance to cut the lead down before the break when, on a scramble in the box, West was called for a foul, giving the Warriors a penalty kick. Senior Austin Bergstrom took the kick, but Holte made a diving save.

“That’s a huge mental hurdle if you get a goal right before the half,” Graham said. “Not making that PK was momentum gained for them and lost for us.”

Bergstrom, one of nine seniors playing at Washington for the final time, had a couple of other good chances besides the penalty kick, only to be denied by Holte.

“He made a couple of good saves and kept it out of the goal,” he said. “The bounces just didn’t go our way today.”

Stiles credited the Warriors for spirited play in the second half.

“They pounded us in the second half,” he said of the Washington effort over the final 40 minutes. “They did a good job in front of our goal but we were able to defend them well enough to keep them off the board.”

The Warriors did put one home in the second half when Boris Licona-Moreno headed one past Holte, but it was disallowed when officials ruled Washington to be offside.

Although Thursday’s loss was a stinger, Graham said he feels good about the program going forward. This state trip was the third in the last four seasons and there are plenty of talented underclassmen in the program.

“I’m happy where we are at,” he said “We’ve got a great group of kids coming back so I think we will be all right. We’ll just keep doing what we’ve been doing.”

Sundermann knows the program will continue to flourish.

“Overall, we’ve put good teams on the field every year I played,” he said. “I don’t see any reason that won’t continue.”

BOYS STATE SOCCER TOURNAMENT
At Des Moines

Thursday

Class 3A
First Round
Iowa City West 3, CR Washington 0
CR Kennedy 2, Sioux City West 1
Johnston 2, Ankeny 1
Iowa City High 3, WDM Dowling 1

Class 2A
First Round
CR Xavier 3, Dubuque Wahlert 2
Pella 1, Norwalk 0
Waverly-Shell Rock 3, ADM 1
Storm Lake 3, Mount Pleasant 1

Class 1A
First Round
Dyersville Beckman 3, DM Christian 0
Nevada 3, MOC-Floyd Valley 2
West Liberty 2, Waterloo Columbus 1
Iowa City Regina 4, Riverside, Oakland 0

Friday

Class 3A
Semifinals
Iowa City West (18-1) vs. CR Kennedy (16-3), 5 pm
Johnston (19-1) vs. Iowa City High (16-2), 5:05 pm

Class 2A
Semifinals
CR Xavier (12-5) vs. Pella (14-5-2), 2:30 pm
Waverly-Shell Rock (13-4) vs. Storm Lake (14-1), 2:35 pm

Class 1A
Semifinals
Dyersville Beckman (16-0-1) vs. Nevada (13-4), 12 pm
West Liberty (10-6-3) vs. Iowa City Regina (13-1), 12:05 pm

Saturday

Class 3A
Championship
Semifinal winners, 5 pm

Consolation
Semifinal losers, 4:10 pm

Class 2A
Championship
Semifinal winners, 2:30 pm

Consolation
Semifinal losers, 1:40 pm

Class 1A
Championship
Semifinal winners, 12:05 pm

Consolation
Semifinal losers, 11:10 am