Waddell’s hat trick leads PCM past CMB

MAXWELL — Abby Waddell scored four goals for the Prairie City-Monroe girls’ soccer team as a sophomore last season.

One year later, Waddell has taken her game to another level.

Waddell recorded another hat trick Friday night, this time against Collins-Maxwell/Baxter, and the Mustangs cruised to a 6-0 win over their rivals during Heart of Iowa Conference play.

PCM led 4-0 at halftime, and Waddell made sure the Mustangs stayed in front with two second-half goals. She now has a team-high 13 goals on the season.

“I am getting better touches on the ball. I am not as nervous this year. Last year, I would totally miss the goal. I am much calmer this year,” Waddell said when asked about what the biggest difference from last year to this year is.

Junior Dakota Hostetter had two first-half goals for the Mustangs, who swept CMB and outscored the Raiders 16-0 this season.

Senior McKinzie Tjaden scored her third goal of the season and added two assists. She now has a team-high seven assists on the season. Sophomore Taylor Shepley had two assists, and freshman Camryn Wignall added another assist in the win.

Hostetter put the Mustangs on the board four minutes into the match with her second goal of the season. Tjaden made it 2-0 13 minutes later, and Waddell’s first goal of the match came off a corner kick by Shepley.

“We were in the right positions in the right time,” said Waddell, who has scored five of her 13 goals against CMB. “We put the ball in the open spots and took advantage of the opportunity.”

It was one of two corner kicks that PCM converted on the day. The second one came with 50 seconds to go until halftime. Tjaden set up Hostetter with a perfect pass just in front of the net.

“We have two set plays that we do,” PCM coach Bill Sowder said of the corner kicks. “If we do it right, there is no reason we shouldn’t score. The problem has been we don’t go to the ball enough. Today, we went to the ball, and it worked.”

PCM out-shot CMB 42-13 for the game. The Mustangs had a 26-6 advantage on shots on goal, too.

The victory was the second straight for PCM. The Mustangs improved to 5-8 overall and 2-1 in HOIC play.

“It feels good to be winning games,” Waddell said. “It kind of stinks having our school know that the program doesn’t win a lot of games. But this year, I hear a lot of people in the hallway telling us good job, and they know that the season is going better.”

Sowder made some lineup changes late in the second half. He moved his forwards to defense and his defenders to offense. That gave junior Jaiden Rogers and freshman Caitlyn Walters a chance to score a goal, and it showed Waddell how valuable a strong defense can be.

“I wanted to give them an opportunity to play other positions,” Sowder said. “We wanted to show the offensive players what the defensive players do back there. It gives everyone a much better appreciation for what goes on.”

PCM goalie McKeely Tjaden had four saves, while freshman Camillia Schlasser stopped four shots in the second half.

CMB (0-7, 0-5) has been shut out in six of its seven losses and scored one goal on the season.

Raider coach Gary Cummings wanted his team to take at least 17 shots against PCM. CMB got to 13, but the second half was much better than the first.

“Our defense played better when we started to push up,” Cummings said. “We are getting better. It’s going to take small strides. We don’t play the short passing game very well. We need to control it better and push it up to our forwards so we have support. We need to communicate better, too, but we are getting better.”

CMB junior Amanda Harrington had 22 saves in the loss to PCM. She had 24 one night earlier in a 10-0 loss to Class 1A No. 9 North Polk.

CMB plays at 7 p.m. Monday at No. 5 Nevada. PCM hosts No. 7 Gilbert at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.