April 19, 2024

Cardinal boys notch LHC win over Tigers

By Jocelyn Sheets

Heading the ball over the Grinnell goalkeeper for a goal is Newton High’s Austin Johansen (21) to put the Cardinals up 3-0 by halftime on their way to a 5-0 win at home Tuesday over the Tigers. (Jocelyn Sheets)

Possession and pressure put Newton High’s Cardinal boys in position to net their first Little Hawkeye Conference soccer victory. The Cardinals served up a shutout of visiting Grinnell’s Tigers Tuesday at H.A. Lynn Stadium

The Cardinals tallied a 5-0 win to improve to 1-2 in conference play and 7-3 overall.

“It was another night of total team soccer by our team,” Newton head coach Sackda Viravong said. “Everyone on our team played really well, and we made a lot of substitutions.”

Viravong said the Cardinals came out flat in the beginning of the game, but eventually found their footing. He said the Cardinals served a lot of balls into Grinnell’s 18-yard box, and the Tigers had difficulty clearing the ball out of the area.

The Cardinals’ pressure resulted in a goal by Duncan Lee at the 30:12 mark of the first half.

The Tigers’ goalkeeper Logan Strawser made a diving attempt to stop a shot on goal by Nick Rusk. The ball bounced off Strawser’s hands on the dive, and Newton’s Chet Adams had a short shot for goal with 18:48 on the clock.

Newton wasn’t through in the first half. There was a little more than three minutes before the break. Reserve Austin Johansen went up high in front of the goal to head a pass from Justin Fischer past the Tiger goalie.

Up 3-0, the Cardinals controlled the second half just as they had in the first by possessing the ball. Rusk put a hard shot on goal, the ball ricocheted off the goalie’s hands right back to Rusk, and he planted the ball into the back of the net.

Rusk’s goal came with 33:08 on the second-half clock. Lee finished the scoring with his second goal of the night off a pass from Rusk with 3:57 left in the game.

“Griffin Engel made 12 saves in goal, but the most critical saves came in the second half when Grinnell was putting a lot of pressure on us,” Viravong said.

Newton had 11 shots on goal as did Grinnell. Each team had five corner kick opportunities.

Newton’s junior varsity beat Grinnell 4-1 after leading 3-0 at halftime. The Cardinals got one goal each from Dalton Pauley, Preston Sherwood, Tyler Stanton and Johansen. Johansen was credited with two assists and Jacob Murphy had an assist. Reagan Maple made six saves.

Newton hosts Adel- DeSoto-Minburn in non- conference play Thursday. The freshman game starts at 4:30 p.m. followed by a junior varsity game at 5:30 p.m. and the varsity contest at 7 p.m.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com.