Notre Dame-West Burlington boys soccer team leans on defense to shut down opponents

By now everyone in the state who follows high school boys soccer knows about the prolific offense of Notre Dame-West Burlington.

Class 1A's fifth-ranked Nikes are averaging six goals per game through 20 matches heading into a Class 1A state quarterfinal match against Western Christian at noon June 1 at the Cownie Soccer Complex in Des Moines.

The Nikes have three of the top 16 goal scorers in Class 1A in seniors Gabe Zurita (33 goals), Cole Ward (31 goals) and Parker Davis (16 goals). Davis is the state's single-season assists leader with 46 and counting.

Finding the back of the net has not been a problem for the Nikes.

What oftentimes gets lost in the shuffle is the Nikes' stingy defense. Starting with senior goalkeeper Arya Nowroozi and defenders Aidan Krell, Alex AbouAssaly and Matthew Booten as well as midfielders Seena Nowroozi, Hunter Lillie, Cole Carper, Taylor Lundgreen and Caden Ott, the Nikes are allowing just 0.55 goals per match.

Through 20 matches, the Nikes have surrendered just 11 goals and have shut out their last nine opponents, dating back to a 5-0 loss to Class 1A's top-ranked Davenport Assumption on April 30.

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The Nikes outscored their three substate opponents by a combined 25-0 margin, including a 5-0 win over Columbus/Winfield-Mount Union in a substate championship match Wednesday at the FunCity Turf.

While the offense gets all the headlines, the Nikes' defense is squeezing the life out of opposing teams.

“We have a great team," said Arya Nowroozie, who has saved 98 of the 109 shots on goal he has faced this season. "Our defensive line and midfield was very strong, especially with Hunter and Seena sitting in the sixes playing as defensive midfielders. We also have Aidan, Matthew, Cole Carper when he is healthy, Alex, Andrew (Krantz) and Caden. We have people coming off the bench, too.”

“Our defense is always fantastic. Never any complaints. They’ve been great all season," Davis said.

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“Mostly on their counters it was pretty simple just to poke the ball out so our midfielders could get it," said Krell, one of the state's top defenders. "All we could really do is keep the ball and kick it back and forth to try to loose up the midfield. Once we did that, we could either pump a few shots in or cross it and pass it back in multiple times.”

It is all part of a master scheme put together by ND-WB head coach John Wagner and assistant coaches David Giese, Michael Carper and Aron West. If other teams can't score, they can't win.

“We’ve got Aidan back there and Arya is so good with his feet that he is like a sweeper back there," Wagner said. "Anything that goes back there … his footwork and ability to switch the field is so good. I really didn’t feel like there was anything we needed to worry about there.”

Columbus/W-MU managed just one shot on goal in the entire 80 minutes. The Wildcats had a free kick from 55 yards out which Arya Nowroozi made an easy save on.

“It was just a little floater, not too difficult for me to handle," Nowroozi said. "I’ll expect a lot more when we get to state. It’s going to be pretty tremendous in terms of difficulty of shots I will face, especially against Assumption and Beckman and Western Christian.”

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The Nikes will need their defense to continue playing at a high level. They open the state tournament against top seed Western Christian, a team the Nikes beat, 4-1, in the Class 1A state championship match last June.

“It feels good. I’m not getting excited until we keep going. I’m not getting my hopes up yet. I want to keep going," Krell said.

“Matt played well and both our outsides were different. We were pushing them a little bit up. Our six, which would be Hunter, had to sit in.Hunter had an exceptional game. He really did," Wagner said.

“We were still defending first. We are trying to build up our attack from the back. We are trying to play defense. Give credit to Notre Dame. They have a good team," Columbus/W-MU head coach Luis Cacho said of the Nikes.

Matt Levins is a sports reporter for the USA TODAY Network in Burlington, Iowa, who has covered local sports for 31 years. Reach him at mlevins@thehawkeye.com.

This article originally appeared on The Hawk Eye: Notre Dame-West Burlington boys soccer team blanks another opponent