Newton boys win home soccer tournament

Newton’s boys soccer team had no trouble claiming its home tournament championship on Saturday.

The Cardinals outscored their two opponents 13-0, had a significant advantage in shots and the defense was dominant during a 2-0 day at H.A. Lynn Field.

The biggest thing now for Newton is continuing to get into match shape.

“We are still building. We have guys who play a lot of minutes who are not in game shape yet,” Newton head boys soccer coach Zach Jensen said. “We are still seeing chemistry being built. Things are coming along, but we still have work to do.”

Newton opened its day with a 10-0 win over Central Iowa United. And then grabbed the tournament championship when it shut out Class 3A Ottumwa 3-0.

Ottumwa won its other match 3-1 against Benton, which downed Central Iowa United 6-0 in its other match.

“We came to win two games. That was our job and we completed it,” Jensen said. “It’s good to get a 3A win and a 2A win so that will help us come substate time.”

Ten different Cardinals scored at least one goal. Bryar Annee and Jack Suttek each scored twice against Central Iowa United. Hunter Kennedy also had a pair of goals on the day.

Against Ottumwa, Newton scored three goals three different ways.

Derek Lanser was opportunistic as he blasted the ball into the net after the Ottumwa keeper lost control of the ball in front of the goal.

That goal came in the 6th minute and Trey Hewitt’s bomb from 25 yards out in the 28th minute made it 2-0 at halftime. It was a high lofting kick that was out of the reach of the Ottumwa keeper and just below the cross bar.

“That was a pretty awesome goal. He will remember that one forever,” Jensen said.

Kennedy’s second goal of the day came in the second half against the Bulldogs. He extended the lead to 3-0 when he put a free kick from 30 yards out past the keeper.

The Cardinals had 20 shots and nine shots on goal against Ottumwa (2-1). The Bulldogs took just three shots on goal, all of which were stopped by Newton goalie Caleb Lawson.

They were the only saves of the day for Newton as Central Iowa United didn’t get many opportunities to score.

Newton led 6-0 at halftime and ended the match with 6:19 to play because of the 10-goal mercy rule.

“Any way we can get a goal, we’ll take it,” Jensen said. “We finished our opportunities today. It was good to see that.”

Kennedy, Parker Aalbers, Derek Beiner, Bryar Annee and Suttek all scored first-half goals against Central Iowa United (0-2). Annee’s two goals put Newton in front 4-0 and 6-0.

Suttek, Josh Meyer, Alex Thomason and Christian Lawson all scored goals in the second half.

Beiner finished with one goal and two assists. Aalbers and Meyer each had one goal and one assist, Lanser had two assists and Hewitt delivered an assist.

The Cardinals had 30 shots and 19 shots on goal in the match. Caleb Lawson spent the first 34 minutes between the pipes before Jensen put in backup goalie Hunter Teague for the final 20 minutes. Neither player faced a shot on a goal.

“We need to be quicker with the ball and take our shots when they are available,” Central Iowa United boys coach John Fuller said. “We have a lot of stuff to work on. We just need to think the game through more on the field in real time.”

Central Iowa United played pretty well until its opponents cracked the scoreboard.

Benton and CIU were scoreless through 26 minutes. The Bobcats scored their first three goals in the final 3:30 of the first half.

“Two of the most vulnerable times for goals in soccer are when you score or when you get scored on,” said Fuller, who played seven or eight freshmen on Saturday. “I wanted to get to halftime 0-0. Then we may have had a decent chance. We could have maybe came out of 1-0. But 3-0 is very difficult, especially with a young team playing their second game of the season.”

Notes: Jensen said Newton has won its own tournament three out of four years in the five years he’s been head coach. The Cardinals won by goal differential in 2019. … Lanser re-aggravated a shoulder injury in the win over Ottumwa. Jensen was unsure of his status after the match. … Newton had an 8-1 advantage in corner kicks against CIU and an 11-0 surplus in the match against Ottumwa. … A yellow card was given to Aalbers in the CIU match, while Christian Lawson and Aalbers both received cards in the win over Ottumwa.