DES MOINES - The Linn-Mar Lions are young. They hope to come back. But truth be told, they're tired of shooting blanks at the girls state soccer tournament.

Linn-Mar failed to mount an attack Thursday and lost to Waukee, 3-0, in the first round of the Class 3A tournament at the Cownie Sports Complex in Des Moines.

Linn-Mar has made four trips to the state tournament and has been shut out in the first round each time.

"Yeah, we wanted it," said sophomore Olivia Garcia, "but we couldn't get it this time."

Linn-Mar lost to Bettendorf, 5-0, in the first round of the state tournament in 1998 when many of the girls on this year's team were still in diapers. The Lions lost to Bettendorf again in the 2010 opener, 1-0, and fell to Ankeny, 3-0, in the first round last year.

That makes them 0-for-4 at the state tournament with no goals scored and 11 against.

On the bright side, there were only three seniors on this year's club. The three top scorers - Garcia (19 goals), Jensen Sevening (13 goals) and Claire Larson (12 goals) - will be back. So will goal keeper Rylie Frese, who pitched 13 shutouts in 19 games.

"They have nothing to be ashamed of," said Coach Steve Dickinson, whose club finished 15-4. "It's the best record we've ever had, the most goals we've ever scored.

"Everything is looking up for us," he said. "We had three great seniors, but I look forward to a lot of good stuff next year.

"The girls played their hearts out. They left everything on the field, I thought."

Linn-Mar climbed as high as No.2 in the rankings this season and was ranked No.5 in the final poll of the regular season. Waukee is ranked No.6, but clearly had the stronger team Thursday.

"They've always been a tough opponent," said Garcia, a sophomore. "Their whole center (attackers) kept going through us and we didn't really know how to figure it out."

Waukee's attack kept the Lions off-balance.

"They moved the ball extremely well to the middle of the field, back and forth," said Dickinson. "We just did not adjust to it as well as we should have."

In addition, Waukee's defense gave Garcia, Sevening and Larson little room to breathe. "I wasn't able to help my team out as well as I wanted to," said Garcia.

Hannah McDevitt, Ellie Bunz and Anna Kollmorgen scored goals for Waukee (16-4). Jackie Kunze collected the shutout in goal, but had to make only three official saves.

Linn-Mar went home with a consolation trophy for making it this far. Only eight teams in Class 3A reached Des Moines.

"I guess we're kind of lucky that we have only three seniors," said Garcia. "We have almost everybody coming back next year and we hope to go farther."

STATE GIRLS SOCCER TOURNAMENT
At Des Moines

Thursday

CLASS 3A
Quarterfinals
Iowa City West 3, Johnston 2 (SO)
WDM Dowling 3, Dubuque Hempstead 2
Ankeny 4, Iowa City High 0
Waukee 3, Linn-Mar 0

CLASS 2A
Quarterfinals
SC East 2, North Scott 1 (SO)
Pleasant Valley 2, Lewis Central 0
CR Xavier 4, ADM/Van Meter 1
Pella 2, Dallas Center-Grimes 1

CLASS 1A
Quarterfinals
Center Point-Urbana 2, CB St. Albert 1
SC Heelan 6, Bondurant-Farrar 1
Davenport Assumption 5, Denver 0
Nevada 2, Iowa City Regina 1

Friday

CLASS 3A
Semifinals
Iowa City West (16-4) vs. WDM Dowling (17-2), 7 pm
Ankeny (20-0) vs. Waukee (16-4), 7:15 pm

CLASS 2A
Semifinals
SC East (17-2) vs. Pleasant Valley (15-5), 4:30 pm
CR Xavier (17-1) vs. Pella (18-1), 4:45 pm

CLASS 1A
Semifinals
Center Point-Urbana (18-3) vs. SC Heelan (16-0), 2 pm
Davenport Assumption (17-1) vs. Nevada (13-5), 2:15 pm

Saturday

CLASS 3A
Championship
Semifinal winners, 4 pm

CLASS 2A
Championship
Semifinal winners, 1:30 pm

CLASS 1A
Championship
Semifinal winners, 11 am