April 25, 2025
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GIRLS SOCCER: Defense shines despite 3-0 loss to Denison

Creston/NV gave the Lady Monarchs one of their stiffest tests yet

By Ryan Stonebraker
Creston/NV goalkeeper Lea Stonebraker lunges for one of her 32 saves against Denison-Schleswig, a Nodaway Valley school record.

Creston/NV goalkeeper Lea Stonebraker lunges for one of her 32 saves against Denison-Schleswig, a Nodaway Valley school record. (Ryan Stonebraker )

Two days after they picked up their first victory of the season, the Creston/NV girls soccer squad looked to make it two in a row when they welcomed Hawkeye 10 foe Denison-Schleswig to Panther Field Thursday, April 10.

Near the top of the league with St. Albert and Lewis Central, the Lady Monarchs gave Creston a good test and fended off several chances by the Panthers.

A win last week against Chariton is the earliest win in a season in five years.

Denison-Schleswig led 1-0 at halftime and found the back of the net two more times after halftime for a 3-0 win. Carla Sanchez scored in the 19th minute.

Creston/NV’s Lillie Strode gave the Panthers their best chance in the 35th minute when she had a shot on goal bounce off the post.

“We played well in the first half, and I wish we could’ve gotten a couple of our shots to go in with the wind behind us,” Creston coach Ryan Burwell said. “We couldn’t elevate our shots or they would sail.”

The Panthers moved seniors Olivia Burwell and Alyssa Gerdes up to play different positions to help try to score in the match. Both recently returned to action and have fortified the Panthers defense.

“At the end of the day, you have to score goals. We trailed 1-0 at halftime and we wanted to see if we changed things up if we could tie things up,” Burwell said.

Denison scored their second goal of the match in the fifth minute of the second half and their final goal in the 25th minute of the second half.

Denison has dominated their foes this season with their only loss in five matches coming to Class 1A’s sixth-ranked St. Albert. The Lady Monarchs came into the match having won 11 straight over the Panthers, including a 5-0 win last year. Denison has scored three goals in 10 of those last 11 meetings. Denison came to the match with the Panthers off a 6-1 non-conference win over Oakland Riverside.

The Panthers had quality goalkeeping from Lea Stonebraker during the match. Coming off her third career shutout against chariton, Stonebraker turned in a masterful match with 32 saves, which ties a Nodaway Valley school record. She had 75 saves coming into this week, which is fifth in all classes and second in Class 2A.

“We are happy with three [goals given up]. We are a young team out there, and Denison has kept pace with the leaders of our conference,” Burwell said. “We have had a stretch of games to start and are looking forward to working on what we have seen in our upcoming practices.”

Creston has a stretch of matches where they could be very competitive. The Panthers played at Winterset Monday, April 14, in their only match of the week. Both teams had one win and were still looking for their first conference wins. Creston will play at Chariton Tuesday, April 22, and then return home Thursday, April 24 for a Hawkye 10 matchup against Kuemper Catholic. Both the Panthers and Knights are still looking for their first conference victory.