Regina's Grace Gaarde tops 100 career goals in quarterfinals win over Grand View Christian
While it is difficult to rival the feeling of a postseason win, Regina senior Grace Gaarde may have gotten close after scoring her 100th career goal against Grand View Christian on Wednesday night.
"It was a weird feeling when I scored the goal," Gaarde said. "I was there celebrating with my teammates when it kind of snapped that it was my 100th. There was so much support coming from my team which made it a really nice moment."
Gaarde hit the century mark with her fourth goal of the night in the Regals' 7-1 win over the Thunder in the Class 1A-Region 1 quarterfinal. She finished the night with five goals.
The accomplishment is the latest of what has been a terrific season for Gaarde as she has cemented herself as one of the top players in the state. As of May 17, she ranks second in the state in goals with 43, boosting her career total to 101.
Seeing her senior's growth since the start of her high school career, said that it all has come from her being unafraid to put in the work.
"She was a great player from the start, but she has built upon that with her persistence and hard work," said Regals' coach Ann Larew. "You can see that she never gives up. It doesn't matter what the score is or where we are in the game, she is always giving 100%. That is just a testament to who she is and how she lives her life."
From the opening kick, it was clear that Gaarde had every intention of putting the team on her back. She was the offense's driving force in the first half, scoring all three of the team's goals.
Gaarde said that the team knew it had to be more aggressive if it wanted to advance. They're hoping to make that fast start a theme throughout the rest of their postseason run.
"In some games, we hit a little bump in the beginning and it sets a tone that can take us a while to get out of it," Gaarde said. "So, we emphasized at the beginning of the game how bad we wanted to win, so we had to do our best early on."
She was just as electric in the second half scoring two more goals and assisting on another. She even tried her hand at goalie in the final 10 minutes of the game and had two saves.
The Regals will need Gaarde's intensity to remain high next Tuesday when they will travel to Anamosa to take on either Anamosa or West Liberty in the regional semifinals.
Larew said that rather than spend too much time focusing on who their potential opponent could be, she wants her team to focus on what has gotten them this far.
"It does make a difference who we play," Larew said. "Against either team, we will go out there and play our game. We will be ready no matter what."
This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Regina's Grace Gaarde scores her 100th career goal in quarterfinals win
