The Stormin’ Pointers were ranked in the top five nearly all season before dropping down to sixth in the final rankings of the year after losing four of their final six games of the season, most of those coming to other highly-ranked opponents.

Knowing how strong the opponent was, Rebels head coach Aaron Mara said it was important for his girls to send a message early.

“We told the girls from the beginning we had to come out guns blazing,” Mara said. “We knew CPU wasn’t going to sit back and just wait for us to come to them.”

GC/G-R did just that, controlling much of the pace for the first half and possessing the ball deep in CPU territory, but while they had opportunities the Rebels just couldn’t get shots off.

The Stormin’ Pointers could, however, finally breaking the 0-0 tie with a goal from Adrianna Katcher in the 34th minute, then adding to that lead in the 50th minute off the foot of Abigail Weideman on the way to a 2-0 victory.

“Hats off to CPU for how they played,” Mara said. “We didn’t necessarily play the game that we wanted to play, made a couple of mistakes and they got a couple of goals.”

At the end of the first half, the Rebels (9-7) had only attempted three total shots, none of which were on goal. By comparison, CPU had eight shot on goal at that time, though seven of those had been defended well by GC/G-R goalkeeper Carsen Hamann.

“It was frustrating, I talked to the girls at halftime about how we were just playing boot and chase,” Mara said. “To be honest we hadn’t played that way in about a month or so, we had been working really hard in practice on playing to feet and making those connecting passes. We just weren’t making the passes we needed to tonight, and that makes it hard on our forwards and they can’t maintain possession, then our midfield is slow on transitioning and everything just kind of goes that way.”

The girls took that message to heart after the half, dominating the first five minutes and pushing the pace against the Stormin’ Pointers (15-4). Though freshman Jacque Kuester — who scored twice in the team’s regional opener against Vinton-Shellsburg — managed two shots on goal in the onslaught, CPU goalkeeper Lauren Dufoe kept her out of the back of the net.

Stormin’ Pointers head coach Rich Plante said his girls were able to withstand the GC/G-R advance, but it was by no means an easy win.

“We wanted to show up, we wanted to come and play our game and set the tone right away,” Plante said. “To [GC/G-R’s] credit, they did a really good job of disrupting and moved the ball around really well. Hats off to those guys.”

After that first push, CPU pushed back, controlling the pace for the next 15 minutes until the second half water break, including the goal from Weideman. The Rebels never quite got their rhythm back, though Kuester and Maddie McMartin each had another shot on goal and the girls had three-straight chances from corner kicks late in the half to make it a one-score game.

Mara said his girls eventually ran out of gas, particularly the midfielders, who were tasked with defending a great transition team on a hot and sticky day.

“We knew our midfield was going to have to transition from offense to defense and vice-versa, and in this heat that’s a whole lot to ask from three or four girls,” Mara said. “A lot of these girls are playing two sports right now, and I told them after the game that they gave us 80 minutes of some of the hardest soccer they possibly could play, things just didn’t go our way.”

The season comes to an end for the Rebels in the regional semifinals, a year removed from falling in the regional finals.

GC/G-R will have to find a way to replace defensive stalwart Megan Swanson and forward Audrey Leyen — who returned to the pitch for the final two games after suffering a torn calf muscle early in the season — but with a strong junior class returning for their senior year and freshmen like Kuester and Belen Ellenberger taking the next step in their careers, Mara said there is nowhere to go but up.

“We asked a lot of Jacque and Bellen and even Lyndi [Bowen] got in towards the end of the season to give us some minutes. We knew with our upperclassmen that have been playing all the time for the last two or three years, then throw in a couple freshmen that can contribute, we had something special,” Mara said. “Our future is bright, we have an eighth-grade class coming up that is hungry and wants more, so it will be interesting to next year how things come out.”

Center Point-Urbana 2, Grundy Center/Gladbrook-Reinbeck 0

At Center Point

GC/G-R 0 0 — 0

CPU 1 1 — 2

First Half

CPU — Adrianna Katcher, 33:27

Second Half

CPU — Abigail Weideman, 49:23

Goalkeepers — GC/G-R: Carsen Hamann (13 shots on goal, 11 saves); CPU: Lauren Dufoe (4-3).

Shots — GC/G-R 8, CPU 23.

Shots on goal — GC/G-R 4, CPU 13.

Corner kicks — GC/G-R 6, CPU 7.

Yellow card — Tori Halder, CPU, 64:15.