MARION — Looking much more like a team in mid-season form rather than one actually playing their season-opener Monday, April 7, the Anamosa girls soccer team gave a talented Marion club all they could handle before succumbing to a narrow 1-0 thrilling double-overtime road defeat.
“We were out-shot offensively in this game but don’t let the stats fool you, we actually controlled this game with the way we played in the mid-field,” said Raider girls soccer coach Jim Conklin as his team tallied six shots to the Indians’ 16. “Marion played a very physical brand of soccer that took us some time to get used to, but we made the necessary adjustments and had our chances, which is all a coach can ask for, especially for a season-opener with quite a few questions about who was going to play where coming in.”
Anamosa (0-2) fought for 80 minutes through two scoreless halves and a 10-minute overtime session before Marion scored the game’s lone goal six minutes into the second 10-minute overtime session.
“They actually scored the game-winner off a mistake made by us,” said Conklin. “But that’s what good teams do, they take advantage of other team’s mistakes and this one just happened to end what was a very good game.”
Brittany Hubler led the Raider offense firing three shots at the Marion goal while Bethany Kula chipped in with two more shots. Jackie Engelbart also added a shot for the visiting offense.
Anamosa keeper Katie Grassi was busy tending the Raider goal making a total of 15 saves.
“Marion had more looks at our goal in the first half than they did in the second,” said Conklin as Grassi made six first half saves before adding four more in the final 40-minutes. “Defense is something we still really need to work on to keep the ball out of the box and have Katie not face quite so many shots.”
The Raider JV team was handed a 4-0 loss against the Indians.
The road show continued for the Anamosa girls as the Raiders traveled to Manchester Monday, April 14, and were handed a rough 5-0 defeat at the hands of the Hawks.

ANAMOSA — The perfect start to the 2008 campaign continued for the Anamosa boys soccer team Monday, April 14, as the Raiders fought to a thrilling 5-4 overtime triumph hosting West Delaware.
“This was a back-and-forth match most of the way,” said Raider boys soccer coach Dr. Mike Weston. “Both teams put a lot of pressure on the defenses, but I really feel the difference was we utilized our team speed and got some nice passes through their defense and then Sean just did the rest.”
Sean Corpstein was too much for any Hawk defender to handle as the Raider senior exploded for an amazing four-goal outburst in leading the hosts to the victory.
Corpstein scored all four of his goals in regulation, then Anamosa foreign exchange student Jorge Martinez added the game-winner a mere 50-seconds into the extra session to provide the winning margin.
“Jorge was a man on a mission there in overtime,” said Weston, as Martinez dribbled through the West Delaware defense and ripped a shot past the Hawk keeper. “He saw the opportunity the defense was presenting and reacted.”
Anamosa (3-0) trailed in the early going as the Hawks tallied the game’s first goal 15 minutes in, but Corpstein answered two minutes laster with the first of his four goals.
West Delaware scored again just seven minutes before the halftime horn taking a 2-1 lead, but with a minute remaining in the half, Corpstein found the back of the net again knotting the score at 2-2 at the break.
Corpstein gave the hosts a 3-2 lead just three minutes into the final half off an assist from Kyle Gerber, but the Hawks scored four minutes later to again tie the score.
Corpstein again gave his team a lead adding his fourth goal 16 minutes into the half and the hosts held the narrow advantage until just six minutes remained when the visitors knotted the score and forced overtime.
The Raiders tallied 11 shots in the win with Corpstein and Martinez leading the way with four each. Jordan Fliehler, Anders Thomassen and Tobi Huisgen all added one shot each for the hosts.
Anamosa keeper Casey Krapfl made nine saves facing 13 Hawk shots overall.
The Raider JV team also posted a wild win rolling to a 4-2 triumph over West Delaware.
The Hawks scored first but then the hosts answered with a Jim Roling goal to knot the score at the break.
Ben Gates scored a pair of goals to open the second half for the Raiders, the second coming off a Bryce Engelbart assist and Anamosa led 3-1.