Waukee Northwest’s Izzy Simonini (15) defends Gretna East’s Sonora De Fini (10) during Nebraska Soccer Talk’s “Game of the Week” at East on April 26. (Photo/Fisher Madsen)
For the past four years, Gretna and Gretna East coach Chace Hutchinson’s sides have been all but invincible. After Hutchinson’s Gretna teams won championships in 2022 and 2023, he led Gretna East to a Nebraska state championship in their first year as a program. His teams have a combined record of 75-1. This year, it’s clear that few teams in Nebraska have the potential to beat the mighty East Griffins, so they turned their attention to Iowa.
Saturday, Gretna East hosted Iowa’s Waukee Northwest Wolves in Nebraska Soccer Talk’s “Game of the Week.” Northwest, like Gretna East, is a relatively new program, opening their doors in 2021. Since then, the Wolves have qualified for the state tournament each year of their existence and have been the No. 1 seed at state for the past two years. However, in a cross-state clash, not even one of Iowa’s premier teams had an answer for Gretna East, who scored early and often en route to a 5-1 victory.
“They have a number of girls going to the college level, so we knew that they would push us,” Hutchinson said. “The 5-1 scoreline, it’s little bit misleading. We controlled the game. we feel, but they were in it too up until maybe those last few minutes.”
The match was the first out-of-state matchup for Gretna East soccer, and one that the Griffins sought out. According to Hutchinson, the team gets a set number of games they get to choose outside of the NSAA’s set schedules.
“We want to find top teams,” Hutchinson said. “We wanna play the best and that means we gotta go out of state sometimes and find it, we’ll do it.”
Similarly to East, Northwest also sought a chance to play a top team.
“We wanted to see where we measure up against some of the better teams here in Nebraska,” Waukee Northwest coach Tony Gabriel said. “I want to thank East and Coach Chace (Hutchinson) for having us and hosting us. The girls learned a lot about themselves. We’re still early in up our season, so it’s great to come here to get the learning experience.”
Fifteen minutes into the match, Madi Shelburne found the net to give East an early advantage. Kendall Dobberstien added to East’s lead before halftime in the 36th minute. In the 51st minute, Sonora De Fini scored for the Griffins on a break for her 100th career goal. De Fini started her career as Gretna’s center back in 2022. Last year, De Fini broke the single-season scoring record.
“Sonora has always been a premiere attacking option for us,” Hutchinson said. “She loves to score goals. She’s really good at it. She just has that instinct to be in the right place at the right time.”
Waukee Northwest was able to get a goal on the board in the 62nd minute. In the final five minutes Dobberstien and De Fini each scored a goal just over a minute apart from each other to make the final score 5-1
Meanwhile, Iowa’s soccer season is a much earlier stage than Nebraska’s. Iowa’s postseason starts as Nebraska’s ends, giving Northwest plenty of chances to improve on their search of the program’s first state title.
“I think the result was even more beneficial for us because we were able to learn,” Gabriel said. “Overcoming adversity is a big thing and even down three goals, four goals, our girls just never stopped trying and the work ethic was there, and I was glad to see that fight never stop.”
Hutchinson says future out-of-state matchups are in the works, as the Griffins will face Waukee Northwest in Iowa next season, and that the Griffins are attempting to arrange a cross-state tournament.
“We’re hoping to add a few more teams that are nationally ranked, and trying to make a premier competition with us involved,” Hutchinson said.
Fisher Madsen is a contributor for Nebraska Soccer Talk, currently studying Sports Media at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln.