May 15, 2026
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Panther girls with .500 record

By RYAN STONEBRAKER
Creston senior Ella Turner scores a goal against Red Oak Monday at home on senior night. The Panthers won 10-0.

Creston senior Ella Turner scores a goal against Red Oak Monday at home on senior night. The Panthers won 10-0. (Contributed by MICHELLE JONES)

CRESTON - The Creston Panther girl’s soccer team collected win No. 5 on the season with an 8-0 win over Hawkeye-10 conference foe Red Oak on May 11.

The Panthers improved to 5-5-2 in 12 matches this season. The win total matches their win total from last year with five matches left in the regular season.

The Panthers took command against Red Oak, scoring seven first half goals. The Panthers added a goal in the second half to get the match to its final margin.

Gretchen Hoepker had a hat trick in the match with three goals. Hoepker is the top Creston goal scorer so far this year. The Panthers also had two goals from Ella Turner and one each from Brynn Tussey, Savannah Jaques, and Karissa Groves.

Goalkeeper Lea Stonebraker got her second straight shutout in goal, having played against Greene County but not Panorama. The shutout was her seventh of her career in net for the Panthers.

The back-to-back five-win seasons is the first time for the Panthers since their 2017 and 2018 teams. The 2017 team was 5-11 and the 2018 team was 7-10.

Creston honored their seniors after the game. The 2026 Creston seniors are Lilly James, Jaques, Stonebraker, Tussey and Turner.

The Panthers came into the match with Red Oak having split two matches at their home tournament on Saturday. There, Creston beat Greene County 1-0 and lost to Panorama 10-0. The win over Greene County saw Creston score the winning goal in the first half when James found the back of the net with a nice right corner shot.

Stonebraker didn’t face many shots on goal from the Rams, but the five she had at her were all shots on goal she saved. Creston snapped a two-match losing streak to the Rams with the win and are 5-2 against Green County in their last seven meetings.

In the second game, the Panthers fell to a solid Panorama Panther team. Creston fell behind 6-0 at halftime and Panorama added four more goals in the second half to get the final score to 10-0.

Senior Morgan Crees had a match, totaling seven goals scored to lead the Panthers.The latest IGHSAU girl’s soccer rankings were released on Wednesday and three Hawkeye 10 schools are ranked.

In Class 1A, St. Albert is ranked No. 4 and Kuemper Catholic is ranked No. 11 while in Class 2A, Lewis Central is ranked No. 11. LC recently lost to St. Albert 3-0 on May 5. Kuemper tied with Lewis Central 1-1, while the Knights lost to St. Albert 1-0. Creston has lost to both Lewis Central and St. Albert this season.

The Panthers match with Hawkeye-10 foe Kuemper Catholic scheduled for April 23 that was postponed is scheduled for May 19 at home.