March 28, 2024

Cardinals fall a goal shy of state soccer bid

Newton loses 1-0 to ADM in substate final

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ADEL — Looking at the box score of Saturday’s Class 2A Substate 6 championship match, there wasn’t a whole lot of difference between Newton and No. 10 Adel-DeSoto-Minburn.

The biggest difference was each team had one very strong opportunity to score a goal but only one managed to hit the back of the net.

ADM senior John Maher scored his eighth goal of the season with five minutes to play in the match and that goal held up in a 1-0 victory for the Tigers. It was ADM’s second 1-0 win over Newton this season.

“It’s one of those games where you have to be on your guard. You can’t really let up. Just a few seconds of mental lapse will really hurt you, and that’s what happened,” Newton coach Sackda Viravong said. “We had lots of opportunities. It could have gone the other way for sure.”

Newton was trying to clinch a spot in the 2A boys state soccer tournament for the first time since 1995.

Instead, ADM advances and the fourth-seeded Tigers (17-4) face fifth-seeded Storm Lake (17-1) in a state quarterfinal at 2:35 p.m. Thursday at James C. Cownie Soccer Complex.

“It was an even match. Mentally, if you are out of it for a second, you can get punished,” Viravong said. “We’ll move on from the loss, but we wish we could play some more soccer.”

The two teams played to a scoreless draw in the first half. ADM took four more shots (10-6) than Newton and had a 3-2 advantage in shots on goal and a 3-1 advantage in corners.

Both teams took six shots in the second half.

The Tigers had two more shots on goal and the only corner kick of the final 40 minutes.

The Cardinals (13-6) had their best chance to score when Duncan Lee got loose in the open field with less than 10 minutes to play. Lee aimed for the left post, but the shot tailed wide.

“Duncan Lee got a close range shot, but there wasn’t a lot of mustard on that one,” Viravong said. “Sometimes that happens. The boys played well though. We got deep into the season.”

Shortly after the miss, ADM took advantage at the other end. With five minutes to play, Bryce Godwin centered a pass to midfield, and Maher knocked it past Newton goalie Griffen Engel for the match’s only goal.

Godwin eluded a Newton defender who came in for a slide tackle before delivering the winning assist.

“Our player slide tackled, and he should have just stayed in contain,” Viravong said. “Once you slide tackle, you are out of the game and out of the play. They just put it into the box and boom. If he would have stayed contained, there would have been a different result on that play.”

It was the fourth straight win for the Tigers, who upset No. 5 Dallas Center-Grimes in the substate semifinals. ADM has won eight of its last 10 matches.

The Cardinals came into the match having won six of their last seven games. The final win of the season came against No. 11 Winterset in the substate semifinals.

Engel finished with five saves in the loss for the Cardinals. He is one of several seniors who graduated this spring. Also included in that mix are the team’s two leading goal scorers — Nick Rusk (15 goals, 6 assists) and Lee (13 goals and 5 assists).

“There are a lot of goals in this senior class,” Viravong said. “We have to find some new players to step in and replace them. It’ll be interesting. It’s always hard replacing the seniors.

“It’s not easy to say goodbye. We have to keep focused on the youth programs. That’s the only way we can feed our high school program.”