Josie Jones breaks down Waukee Northwest’s first girls soccer championship
Hear from Waukee Northwest senior Josie Jones after the Wolves win over Linn-Mar in the Class 3A state championship.
AMES — There’s that old saying: Always the bridesmaid, never the bride.
That’s what Waukee Northwest girls soccer experienced over the last three seasons. The Wolves earned the top seed in the Iowa high school state tournament in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
But those two previous trips to the tournament ended in the semifinals, both with losses to Valley. This time, though, was different.
Northwest entered the tournament as the team to beat and made it through unscathed. The Wolves topped Bettendorf in the quarterfinals, Waukee in the semifinals and Linn-Mar in the title game.
Northwest defeated the Lions, 3-2, on June 7 and claimed its first girls soccer state title in program history.
“It hasn’t sunk in yet,” said head coach Tony Gabriel. “But it’s nice to finally do it. We’ve been the 1-seed at this tournament for the third year in a row now, which is tremendous, and it speaks to the determination of these girls here.
“And to do it with this group has been fantastic, and in this fashion, in a great match, both teams fought really, really hard. Just happy to get it done…and great tournament from these girls. They deserve it.”
But things almost didn’t go Northwest’s way, at least not at the start of the game.
With the focus on Linn-Mar’s top player Abi Roberts – who collected three goals and one assist between the quarterfinal and semifinal games – Linn-Mar went to another player for the first goal of the game.
Eden Hofer sent a cross-field pass into the box and past Roberts, and it landed at the foot of Aubrey Luck. She settled the ball before letting off a strong shot into the top left corner of the goal. Linn-Mar took a 1-0 lead with 35:12 remaining in the first half.
It didn’t take long for the action to stall.
Less than four minutes later – with 31:42 on the clock – the announcer informed the crowd that there was lightning in the area and instructed everyone to wait in their cars until it passed.
Thirty-five minutes later, the players returned to the field – and five minutes after the action resumed, Waukee Northwest evened the score.
Izzy Simonini launched a free kick from outside the box that curved toward the far side of the net. One of Linn-Mar’s players went up to head the ball away, but she instead gave it the extra boost needed to slip into the goal.
That goal tied the game, and the Wolves added another before the end of the half.
After several close calls, Romey Croatt lined up for a free kick just outside the box. Her shot sailed right over the line of defenders and into the back of the net, putting Northwest up, 2-1, with 1:18 remaining in the first frame.
The Wolves went to the locker room with the lead, but their advantage didn’t last. Linn-Mar’s Aubrey Luck took a free kick from the left side of the field, and it crept just over goalkeeper Grace Thomason’s hands for the game-tying goal.
For over 11 minutes, Northwest and Linn-Mar remained knotted at two apiece. And then, everything came together for the Wolves.
The Lions’ goalie moved away from the goal line in an attempt to grab an oncoming ball, and then a Linn-Mar defender deflected it away with her chest. But Northwest senior Olivia Stapleton – coming off the bench – was right there, and she ripped a shot into the top right corner.
“I’m so thrilled for Olivia,” Gabriel said. “She was a starter in the majority of our matches and battling some illness and injury late in the season. Unfortunately, I didn’t get her in the starting lineup, but she is starter quality.”
Northwest nursed that 3-2 lead until the final buzzer. The Wolves had several more opportunities to score, but nothing landed, and the defense took care of business on the other end.
After three straight trips to the tournament as the No. 1 seed, Northwest finally came away as the champions.
“This group is bar none the most determined group of individuals I’ve ever coached,” Gabriel said. “We’ve had a lot of talent over the years, and this group might not even be the most talented group of girls that we’ve had. But they are the most determined.
“It’s not surprising to me that this is the group that did it.”
Alyssa Hertel is the college sports recruiting reporter for the Des Moines Register. Contact Alyssa at ahertel@dmreg.com or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel.