Comet boys soccer team wins season opener against NH before losing at home to the Lions

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

CHARLES CITY — It didn’t take the Charles City boys soccer team long to match the total amount of wins it had last season.

In 2024, the Comets were 1-11 with their lone victory against New Hampton coming at about the midway point of the season. Last Thursday, Charles City traveled to NH to open the 2025 season and came home with a 2-1 victory.

Senior midfielder/forward Carter Haberkorn, who led the Comets in scoring last season, had one of the goals against the Chickasaws with fellow team captain, junior midfielder Jackson Kowalski, finding the net for the other.

Junior keeper Sullivan Gerleman stopped three of the four Chickasaw shots on goal to help secure the victory.

On Monday, the Comets hosted Clear Lake for its home-opener and were soundly defeated 6-1.

The Lions were led by junior midfielder Luke Moore, who achieved a “hat trick” by way of scoring half his team’s goals.

Moore scored the first two goals of the game — the second of which was a looping 30-footer that just got over the outstretched hand of Sullivan.

Lion senior captain Adrian Ros helped put the Lions up 3-0 less than 10 minutes before halftime with another long-range looping goal that Sullivan couldn’t reach high enough in the air to prevent.

In the second half, freshman Owen Whitehouse was able to score from pointblank range on the left of the goal as he was in the right spot after Sullivan made a diving save on a shot attempt by Ros.

Sophomore Reece Wharton also scored in the second half, and Moore completed his HT to account for the Lions’ scoring output.

The Comets didn’t have too many scoring opportunities as they didn’t record a shot on goal until the second half.

Charles City’s first scoring opportunity came when Haberkorn double pivoted from his left and then right while dribbling the ball before making a cross pass to freshman midfielder Sean Jones on the wing. Jones had a good look at the goal as he was one-on-one with Lions keeper Caleb Hall, who was able to force Jones’s shot wide.

Haberkorn later put on another double-pivot dribbling clinic to lose a pair of defenders and unleash a shot from 25 yards out that Hall was not able to stop from touching the net. That finally put the Comets on the scoreboard with exactly 20 minutes remaining in regulation.

Charles City’s next match is this Thursday (Aug. 10) at Hudson. The following Friday, the Comets will host Clayton Ridge with the varsity “kickoff” scheduled at 5:30 p.m.