March 28, 2024

Cardinals win Cardinal Invitational

PCM, CMB go 0-2 in tourney action

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Newton High’s Cardinals, Prairie City-Monroe’s Mustangs and Collins-Maxwell/Baxter’s Raiders are three boys’ soccer teams working on finding their team identities in 2017. All three played in Saturday’s Newton Cardinal Invitational at H.A. Lynn Stadium.

The Cardinals had a lead on CMB in the final game of the afternoon, but they knew they had to have a certain goal-differential to claim the tournament championship. Newton pulled out a 2-1 win over Benton earlier in the day, but Ottumwa had beaten PCM, 4-0, and downed CMB, 3-0.

Newton extended its 3-1 halftime lead over the Raiders to a 9-1 victory. It was enough to win the tiebreaker with Ottumwa, securing their home tournament title.

“Coming into the weekend our goal was to go 2-0 today and winning our own tournament. It became clear we had to have a goal-differential of more than seven to win. The guys got it done,” Newton head coach Zach Jensen said.

Ottumwa finished second followed by Benton (1-1) in third. PCM and CMB each were 0-2 and finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

Four Cardinals were named to the all-tournament team — senior forward Justin Fischer, senior midfielder Josh Ventling, senior goal keeper Reagan Maple and junior defender Dalton Pauley. Fisher led all scorers in the tournament with four goals and Ventling had three goals. Maple had four saves in a game and a half.

PCM junior Misha Seebeck and CMB’s sophomore Josh Bruntz were on the all-tournament team. Ottumwa’s Luis Barojas, Juan Carapia and Emerson Torres and Benton’s Vance Bartelt and Patrick Michael rounded out the all-tournament team.

Newton’s Fischer managed to find the net at the 23:05 mark of the first half against CMB. The Cardinals put constant pressure on the Raider defense and sophomore goal keeper Brendyn Padget throughout the game.

Sophomore Jacob Murphy turned a throw-in pass from Ventling into Newton;’s second goal against CMB with 20:01 on the first-half clock. Less than a minute later, sophomore Jacob Murphy used a cross pass by Fischer to put the Cardinals up 3-0.

The Raiders countered with 13 minutes left in the first half. Junior Carter Fricke took advantage of an injury to Newton sophomore defender Ty Arguello. Fricke dribbled between Arguello, who was going down, and junior defender Matthew Karsten to kick the ball past Maple for CMB’s first goal of the season.

“We’ve talked about how in our first two games for the season we did not coming out of halftime with passion, intensity and aggressiveness,” Jensen said. “In this game, the guys got the job done in the second half.”

Fisher and Stanton were on the attack early in the second half when Padget came out to meet the charge and slipped down. Stanton buried the ball in the empty net. Fischer scored a minute later on a pass from Ventling.

Fischer recorded his first hat trick — three goals — of the season on an 18-yard free kick goal with 13:09 left in the game. He would added one more goal in the final minute of play, but before then Ventling scored and senior Joe Stammeyer tallied a goal.

“We came out and played our game of soccer,” Fischer said. “As a captain, we knew we had to be more vocal on the field, lead and guide our younger players. In our three games so far, I’ve seen young guys step up and work hard at it. We’re working through some injuries right now.”

Maple was in the goal for Newton in the first half against CMB. He gave up the goal and did not have a save. Junior Benny Cheng was between the posts the second half, ringing up one save. Newton put 22 shots on goal and CMB’s Padget had 12 saves.

“Benny’s save was big to keep the goal-differential in play for us. Matthew Karsten, who has never played or practiced with the varsity, came in today and did a tremendous job as our center back. He and Dalton Pauley made some great defensive plays in each of our two games today,” Jensen said.

Each of the area teams have new makeups to their squads. Newton and CMB have new head coaches, and the Raiders are in their second season after reviving the program.

The Mustangs opened the tournament day with a 6-0 loss to Benton followed by the shutout loss to Ottumwa.

Benton’s Michael had two first-half goals and Bartelt made it 3-0 at halftime. With a quick back kick, Michael scored his third goal of the game at five minutes into the second half. Bartelt and Brody Rawson added a goal each for the final score.

“I saw a lot of effort and teamwork from our guys today. We’re starting to see the game,” PCM head coach Darrin Telfer said. “We’re starting to pass the ball and communicate better.”

The Mustangs had sophomore Blake Reed in goal the first half against Benton, and he had four save. Junior Jacob Ponder had three saves as goal keeper in the second half.

PCM played Ottumwa to a 1-0 score at halftime. The Bulldogs had three second-half goals as Barojas had three goals for Ottumwa in the game and Jerry Magana scored the final goal. Senior Zac Waardhuizen played the whole game as the Mustangs’ goal keeper, having nine saves.

“We had tough opposition today. We played a lot of guys, too,” Telfer said. “We’re starting to put some things together. We’re close to execution. The Ottumwa game was 1-0 and could have gone a different way, but we had a couple of breakdowns. Some of that is on us as coaches. We moved people around.”

Telfer said the Mustangs’ numbers are up this season with 45 on the squad. He said they dressed 24 players for Saturday’s tournament. Telfer said PCM has some freshmen and sophomores who are starting to push the older kids.

“It’s good competition in practice. In a week or so, we’ll have people set in positions. I really feel good about how we played today and the direction we’re headed in,” Telfer said.

Under first-year head coach Crystal Bruntz, the CMB Raiders opened the 2017 season Saturday in the Newton tournament. The Raiders were down 2-0 to Ottumwa at halftime as the Bulldogs got goals by Emerson Torres and Juan Andrade.

Torres scored again three minutes into the second half. The Raiders held the Bulldogs at bay the rest of the game. Padget was in goal the whole game had eight saves

“The team stepped up to play in new positions and with new players in these first two games of the season,” Bruntz said. “While the outcomes of the games were not what we wanted, we will continue to focus on our game. We are excited to get back to practice and play on Thursday and Friday. The team set goals this year, and our focus will be on the work needed to achieve these goals.”

In Newton’s first game of the tournament, it battled Benton to win 2-1. At the 15:24 mark of the first half, Stammeyer put a corner kick right in front of the goal and Ventling headed the ball in. The Cardinals were up 1-0 at halftime.

Benton came out in the second half and applied the pressure on Newton. With 19:10 showing on the clock, the Bobcats’ Addison Steinford was on the back side of the net to kick in a ball that dribbled past Newton’s defenders.

“We got together as a team out there and talked it over,” Ventling said. “We knew we had to communicate better. We have a lot people on the team without varsity experience, but we’re seeing them step up.”

Newton was awarded a corner kick with eight minutes remaining in the game with the Bobcats. This time junior Gavin Aalbers delivered the ball from the corner. Ventling connected for his second header of the night, putting Newton up 2-1.

The Cardinals were able to fend off the Bobcats. Maple had four saves in the game on five shots on goal by Benton. Newton had five shots on goal for the game.

“I didn’t come into the day thinking I’d score two headers. Joe and Gavin put two great balls in play and I just went up and attacked the ball,” Ventling said. “Yes, I’m pretty vocal out there. I just help the guys know where to be and get them in the right mindset. We all have to be engaged in the game all the time to succeed.”

Newton (2-1) open Little Hawkeye Conference play in a 7 p.m. contest Tuesday at Indianola. PCM (0-3) plays at 7 p.m. Monday at Centerville and CMB (0-2) plays at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Ankeny Christian.

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