Newton boys suffer narrow loss to rival Dutch

Newton’s gameplan against Pella on Tuesday night revolved around the Dutch’s best player, Teddy Apostolopoulos.

But for the second straight season, Apostolopoulos got the best of the Cardinals and his one goal and one assist led Pella to a victory over the Newton boys soccer team.

The match was not decided after 100 minutes though. Pella outscored Newton 4-3 in the penalty-kick shootout session and downed the Class 2A No. 9 Cardinals 3-2 during a Little Hawkeye Conference matchup at H.A. Lynn Stadium.

“I had a great coach one time tell me PKs are a flip of a coin,” Newton head boys soccer coach Zach Jensen said. “That’s what they are. They are a flip of a coin. It’s a tough way to lose. I hate overtime and I hate PKs. We had opportunities to win it in regulation and overtime. We just didn’t capitalize on those chances.”

The Cardinals had a significant advantage in shots at halftime. But the scoreboard showed a 1-all tie.

Pella’s Austin Bone made it 1-0 in the 11th minute, but Jacob Sweeney countered with his sixth goal of the season a little more than 6 minutes later.

Landon Menninga put the Cardinals in front 2-1 in the 56th minute, but Apostolopoulos dribbled through the Cardinal defense and evened the match at 2-all with 16:36 to play in the match.

“The main message at the start of the game was to mark up and defend No. 6,” Jensen said. “He’s their biggest threat and their only player. He scores a goal and gets an assist off their two goals. We didn’t put a body on him and just stabbed at him. We let him dribble through our entire team. That goes to listening and paying attention to the gameplan and we decided not to focus on No. 6 for the second year in a row.”

Hunter Teague and Pella’s Tristan Huckstep played well as the two goalies in the shootout considering how difficult it is to stop a penalty kick.

Both goalies were up to the challenge in each team’s first attempt, but Pella went 4-for-4 after that to win it. Huckstep’s final save of the night set up Kolton Messer’s game-winning PK goal.

All three of Newton’s losses this season have been by one goal. Two of them were decided in double overtime or later.

The Cardinals (9-3, 2-2 in the conference) had a 29-19 advantage in shots and a 22-16 surplus in shots on goal. That margin was much wider in the first half.

Teague finished with 14 saves in his 100 minutes. He now has 65 saves this season, which ranks 10th in 2A.

Teague made a diving save in the 28th minute to keep the game tied in the first half. Pella also had a first-half goal taken away after an offsides call.

Newton’s back line of Caleb Mattes, Conner McPartlin and Landon Bozarth were solid all night long. Mattes even made two saves with his foot in an open net with about 33:34 to play in the match.

“I thought the back line was huge tonight. Sometimes we switch those guys up, but we kept those guys the same for all 100 minutes,” Jensen said. “They gel well together and they understand and communicate well. They are a big reason we’ve been successful this year.”

The Cardinals played the match without four-year starter and captain Cody Klein, who is currently out with an injury. They also lost starters Bryen Hernandez and Jesus Murillo during the match.

“We are starting to get to the point where injuries are racking up,” Jensen said. “We have to have depth and we are really low at the defensive midfielder spot, which is where Cody plays. It’s a big loss for us. I feel like if Cody’s out there it’s a different game. We are racking up some injuries and just have to get healthy before playoff time.”

Newton also decided against using its more offensive-oriented shape during the first 15 minutes of the match like it did in recent matches.

It was a decision made by the captains that Jensen went a long with.

“They wanted to stick to our normal shape,” Jensen said. “It’s a respect thing, too. We respect this team and thought we needed our back line to stay together.”

It was the second straight win for Pella (4-6, 2-2) in the series. The two teams split 5-3 decisions the previous two meetings.

Newton 4, Knoxville 2

A big first half propelled the Cardinals to a non-conference home win over Knoxville on Monday.

Newton scored all four of its goals in the first 28 minutes and they held up during a 4-2 victory at H.A. Lynn Stadium.

“We started early and on time like we always talk about,” Jensen said. “Our unconventional shape got us a few goals early. We are pleased with how that’s working. It’s giving other teams fits.”

Christian Lawson scored twice and is now tied for the most career goals in school history with 48. His 13 goals this season ranks tied for second in 3A.

Mattes opened the scoring with a header off a long throw-in from Nate Lampe in the 2nd minute. Lawson’s goals came in the 19th and 25th minutes and they were assisted by Menninga and Mattes.

Austin Storm added his first career goal to cap the scoring in the 28th minute. Mattes now has eight goals and three assists this season, while Menninga’s assist was his first of the year.

“We were getting and winning the bigger balls tonight,” Jensen said. “I was disappointed we gave up two goals late in the match. I realize there were reserves in the game, but we need more effort than what we got tonight.”

Lampe, who also had an assist in the loss to Pella, leads 3A and ranks second in the state with 22 helpers this spring.

Teague finished with four saves in the victory. Newton was on its way to another shutout until the Panthers (5-5) scored twice on the Cardinals’ reserves in the final 12 minutes.

The Cardinals are 12-3 against Knoxville since 2011 and the win Monday was their third straight in the series. Newton took 16 shots and put 11 of them on goal.