DES MOINES — Micah Frisbie has been in a bit of a sophomore slump.
“I haven’t been able to put any goals away for awhile,” the Iowa City West boys’ soccer forward said. “It’s been making me mad, honestly.”
Overtime in the state tournament was the perfect time to snap out of it.
Frisbie fought to win a ball in the box that was flicked in by Kaiya Luethje, then slotted it home to send No. 5 Iowa City West to the Class 3A semifinals with a 2-1 win over eighth-ranked Ankeny Centennial Thursday at Cownie Soccer Park.
“Putting that away makes me feel a lot better,” Frisbie said.
Someone had to step up for the Trojans (18-3) after Gada Ambo was temporarily sidelined with a yellow card in the final minute of regulation. Ambo scored the opener for West in the 67th minute, his team-high 19th of the season.
After Centennial (15-5) tied it in the 78th minute on Michael Brandt’s header, the defending champs regrouped and quickly ended the last game of the day 3:14 into overtime. The Trojans will take on No. 10 Waukee, which upset top-ranked West Des Moines Valley, in a 5 p.m. semifinal Friday.
“Thankfully, we run pretty deep and a couple guys were ready to step up,” West Coach Brad Stiles said.
“It’s not pretty, but we’ll take it.”
Frisbie had scored 10 times this season, but hadn’t found the net since a May 5 win over Muscatine.
“I think the number of minutes as a sophomore just kind of got to him,” Stiles said. “It was just a little bit of a funk or a slump, if you will. I knew it. He knew it. We’ve just been trying to work to get him out of it. He listened that time.”
“Stiles said we needed somebody to step up after that,” Frisbie said. “I knew I had to.”
l Comments: (319) 398-8252; nathan.ford@thegazette.com