—Photo by David Borer

DES MOINES — The Webster City boys soccer team begins pursuit of a state championship here Wednesday afternoon.

The fourth-ranked Lynx (15-1 overall) meet No. 5 Sioux City Heelan (14-3) in a Class 2A quarterfinal at James W. Cownie Soccer Park. The match is set to begin at 1:10 p.m. on Field 8 at the complex.

Co-champions of the North Central Conference this past spring, the lone loss for Webster City came to eighth-ranked Humboldt, who reached a substate final before falling to No. 9 Perry.

Junior Eddy Fuentes leads the Lynx offense, scoring 36 goals, which is tied for third-most in the state this season. Fuentes has nine assists, giving him 81 points on the year.

Eduardo Perez, a senior, ranks second on the team with 20 goals, adding a team-best 19 assists for 59 points. Conner Peck and David Villelas both have six goals while Eric Torres and Israel Torres both have five.

As a team, Webster City has scored 85 goals on 288 shots, with 177 shots coming on goal.

Freshman Edwin Nolasco Ramos has been a rock in the net, recording 58 saves with just eight goals allowed in 1,239 minutes of play.

The Crusaders topped 10th-rated Sioux Center to reach state, going 4-1 over their last five with all four wins being shutouts. The lone loss came to top-ranked (3A) Lewis Central.

Heelan’s other two losses came to No. 1 (2A) Gilbert and Sioux City West.

Sergio Mijangos has a team-leading 27 goals with Andres Gonzalez recording 17 and Gabe Newberg 11. Mijangos also has 12 assists and Gonzalez 11.

Landon Block has played all 1,255 minutes, recording 77 saves while allowing just six goals.

The Crusaders have won 39 matches over the past three seasons. They lost in state semifinals to Gilbert last summer, 2-1.

In the other 2A matchups, top-ranked Gilbert (17-0) meets Center Point-Urbana (11-4), with the winner of that contest taking on either Webster City or Sioux City Heelan.

No. 3 Decorah (14-3) plays Perry and second-rated Glenwood (14-4) battles Davenport Assumption (10-7).

The 2A semifinals take place Friday at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. with the championship game going down Saturday at 1 p.m. Those matches will be held on Drake University from Drake Stadium and Mediacom Stadium.