Xavier High School - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Saints facing Spanish star at state soccer

DES MOINES – The Xavier Saints will be facing an incredibly talented soccer player from Spain on Friday when they meet Iowa Falls-Alden in the semifinals of the Class 2A state tournament in Des Moines.

Marcos Villa has scored 56 goals for Iowa Falls-Alden in 20 games this season and tied a national record when he scored a hat trick in nine straight games.

Iowa Falls-Alden features another scoring machine with Logan Steelman, who's produced 32 goals for the Cadets this year.

Xavier topped the Marion Indians, 5-1, in the opening round of the state tournament at the Cownie Soccer Complex Thursday afternoon. Thomas Bean and Will Hanigan scored for the Saints in the first half to give them a 2-1 lead at intermission, then Shane Scott, Luke Duball and Brian Lang produced goals in the second half.

Jaffer Murphy scored a goal for Marion, which was making its first trip to the state tournament in school history and finished with an 11-5 record.

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Himmelsbach breaks loose as Saints split

Cassie Himmelsbach has been a capable hitter for the Xavier Saints during her career, but she had some pretty ugly stats this season heading into Thursday night's doubleheader against Dubuque Hempstead.

"They were really rough," she acknowledged.

That changed Thursday when the nomadic Saints were finally able to play some true home games at Bob Erusha Field, which has been plagued by drainage issues this year.

Himmelsbach swatted a pair of solo home runs in the first game as the Saints trimmed Hempstead, 3-2. The visitors captured the nightcap, 10-7.

Himmelsbach, a senior third baseman, was hitting .176 with no homers and no RBIs through Xavier's first seven games of the campaign.

"I had a lot of bad at-bats," she said. "I just couldn't hit anything. It was awful."

Pitch selection was the culprit. She'd been swinging at too many bad pitches and that had to end.

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Abu-Nameh wins 2 matches at state tennis

IOWA CITY – Sarah Abu-Nameh of Xavier compiled a 2-1 record at the Class 1A state tennis tournament Thursday in Iowa City and can finish as high as fifth place in the final rounds Friday.

Abu-Nameh began the day with a 6-0, 6-4 loss to Kally Peterson of Decorah in the opening round, but she bounced back with a pair of victories in the consolation bracket.

Abu-Nameh topped Kate Rietz of Ballard, 7-5, 6-0, and defeated Bry Ronca of Ballard, 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 to stay alive in the tournament at the University of Iowa courts.

Abu-Nameh needs two more victories to finish in fifth place, beginning with a match against Jacqueline Ingram of Denison-Schleswig at 9:30 Friday morning.

No. 13 Xavier softball splits with IC West

The Xavier softball team split a Mississippi Valley Conference doubleheader with Iowa City West Tuesday.

The Saints won the first game, 5-2. Iowa City West took the nightcap, 5-1.

Xavier (4-3, 4-2) is ranked No. 13 in Class 4A. Iowa City West (1-5, 1-4) is ranked No. 15 in Class 5A.

Maria Steffen tossed a complete game for the Saints in the 5-2 victory. She allowed five hits and two earned runs.

Charlotte Richards hit two doubles for Xavier in Game 1. Katie Langholz and Cassie Himmelsbach also had two hits and Langholz drove in three runs.

Ellie Malecek took the loss for Xavier in the second game.