March 29, 2024

Cardinal boys soccer falls to Marshalltown

The Newton boys soccer team has found itself in a bit of a lull in the past few games, and that lull continued Monday night.

Despite waking up from a slow first-half start, the Class 2A No. 11 Cardinals couldn’t get their offense going and fell 2-0 in Marshalltown to the host Bobcats.

“Marshalltown is a very good team. They deserve their record and ranking,” Newton coach Tim Heger said. “They just peppered us with shots and something was bound to get through.”

Cardinal goalkeeper James Leonard recorded 15 saves in the loss and Marshalltown capitalized on Newton’s two defensive breakdowns of the game to record goals. The Cardinals apparently had their chances in the second half, but weren’t able to punch anything through.

It was a good test for Newton (7-3, 4-1 Little Hawkeye Conference) going into its regular-season finale at Class 2A No. 4 Pella on Thursday. The game will more or less decide the conference champion, and with the bad blood between the programs in their recent games, it should be an interesting contest.

“We have had a rough stretch the past few games, so hopefully we can get a big win and carry that into the postseason,” Heger said.