April 17, 2024

Cardinals plan to play their game in state opener

By Jocelyn Sheets
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Ready for state soccer tournament action are the 2016 Newton High Cardinals after winning the Class 2A Region 5 championship Monday. Members of the team are, from left, front row, juniors Madison Mann, Morgan Allen, Ashlee Freese, Ryanne Rausch, Courtney Jacobsen and Megan Van Dalen; back row, from left, junior Kaytlin Ahn, freshman Rachel Rhoads, sophomore Jordan Banfield, seniors Hannah Rhoads and Kari Adams, assistant coach Mallory Sturtz, sophomore Carter Lee, seniors Victoria Jordan and Alex Hutchinson, sophomore Lane Dethrow, seniors Allison Ergenbright and Taylor Moon, head coach Abby Lamont, junior Taylor Shipley, sophomore Addy Blom, sophomore Marcelina Marvelli and freshman Abbie Barr, (Jocelyn Sheets)

No need to find a scouting report for their opening-round opponent Thursday in the 2016 Iowa Class 2A Girls State Soccer Tournament. Newton High’s Cardinals are all too familiar with the Pella Lady Dutch.

The Little Hawkeye Conference rivals have waged several close contests in conference and playoff action over the years. When Newton went to Pella for the LHC game this season, the teams played the full 80 minutes of regulation scoreless and two 10-minute overtime periods scoreless.

It came down to penalty kicks. The Lady Dutch nailed 3 of 5 PKs and the Cardinals were 1-of-4 as 2A No. 1 Pella survived with a 1-0 win.

“I think it’s a great match up,” Newton head coach Abby Lamont said. “We know exactly what to expect, which is a tough hard fought game. Last time we went to PKs and it didn’t come out in our favor.

“We’ve been wanting a rematch since that night. The girls are looking forward to the opportunity to take them on again.”

Newton plays Pella at 3:15 p.m. Thursday on Field 9 at Cownie Soccer Park in Des Moines. The ninth-ranked Cardinals and the top-ranked Lady Dutch go into the state tournament with identical 14-4 records.

“We’re going to play our soccer,” senior Kari Adams said of the Cardinals’ plan heading into the state tournament. “We’ll practice hard the next couple of days and be ready to play our game.”

Adams is one of six seniors on the Newton roster. Adams, Taylor Moon, Victoria Jordan, Alex Hutchinson and Hannah Rhoads are starters for the Cardinals. Allison Ergenbright comes off the bench.

“Our plan is to keep up what we’ve been doing — have great practices, work on our shots and passing and be ready for whatever team we will play at state,” Moon said.

Moon is second on the team in scoring with 12 goals and Jordan has 10 goals. Leading Newton and all of Class 2A in scoring is junior Ryanne Rausch with 38 goals. She also has a team-high 10 assists. Junior Taylor Shipley is credited with eight assists.

Newton has outscored its opponents 79 goals to 13 goals. Pella has scored 64 goals and allowed 15. Each team recorded 11 shutouts during the season and playoffs. Newton was shutout only once — the 1-0 shootout loss to Pella — while Pella had been held scoreless twice.

Pella’s offense is led by freshman Grace Held with 10 goals. Junior Katie Vander Molen and senior Kayla Langstraat each have scored eight goals and sophomore Maddie Canfield has seven goals.

“We just have to show up like we’ve done with our other big games,” Lamont said. “Our shooting has to be on. Our first touches weren’t as good as they needed to be Monday, but we’ll work on those. We want to play to feet. We’ll have to deal with the heat also on Thursday, which we’ll combat with more substitutions during the game.”

Junior Ashlee Freese, who came back from a midseason ankle injury, is back in goal for Newton. She has 68 saves and allowed seven goals. Sophomore Addy Blom is the backup goalie with 42 saves and six goals allowed.

Pella has senior Samantha Fuller in goal. Fuller has 48 saves on the season.

Newton lost 2-0 to Urbandale in a regional semifinal in 2015 to finish 13-5. The Cardinals (13-4) dropped a storm-shortened 1-0 decision to Pella in the regional semifinals in 2014. When the Newton seniors were freshmen, Newton (13-4) lost 3-0 to Pella in a regional final.

In 2016, the Cardinals broke through to claim the school program’s first-ever trip to a state soccer tournament. They have 14 victories. Lamont and assistant coach Mallory Sturtz are former Newton High players going along for the ride.

“This group have had some great coaches growing up with wonderful parent volunteer coaches,” Lamont said. “They have some tenacity, which translates into a fiery passion within them. They bring it onto the field and have a go-get-em attitude.

“We have a great mix of starters from seniors to freshmen. Our seniors are wonderful leaders, and all 21 players have come together for this team success this season.”

The winner of the Newton and Pella game will play the winner of fourth-ranked ADM (19-1) and fifth-ranked Bishop Heelan (14-4), which play at 3 p.m. Thursday, in a Friday semifinal at 2:45 p.m.

In the other side of the 2A state bracket on Thursday, No. 2 ranked Lewis Central (13-3) takes on No. 8 ranked Winterset (17-2) at 2:30 p.m. and third-ranked North Scott (14-5) plays seventh-ranked Waverly-Shell Rock (15-3) at 2:45 p.m. The winners play in a 2:30 p.m. semifinal Friday.

The Class 2A championship game is at 1:30 p.m. Saturday on Field 9 at Cownie Soccer Park.

There is a $5 parking fee at Cownie Soccer Park. Admission to state games is $10.

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