Rausch’s five goals lead Newton girls to win over Marshalltown

Three Little Hawkeye Conference girls soccer programs are currently ranked in Class 2A. The schedule will get tougher for Newton.

For now, the Cardinals are enjoying their best start since 2017 and have allowed just one goal in the first four matches of the spring.

Audrey Rausch put in five goals on Friday to lead the Cardinals to a 7-0 home win over Marshalltown at H.A. Lynn Stadium.

“There’s always something to fix. And we won’t take any game for granted,” Newton girls soccer coach Abby Lamont said. “We still have some tough competition to face in the coming weeks. We have to tried to adjust every game and we’ll keep doing that as there are always holes to fill.”

The Cardinals controlled play for all 80 minutes against the Bobcats. Newton held a 37-5 advantage in shots. The Cardinals had a 2-1 surplus in corner kicks.

Rausch scored all three of Newton’s first-half goals. She scored her fourth goal in the first 10 minutes of the second half and matched a career-high with a fifth goal in the 72nd minute.

Rausch scored her five goals on 15 shots and now has 11 goals this spring, which ranks fifth in the state.

“She’s our primary goal scorer, but we have the ability to score from other positions,” Lamont said. “Audrey has scored off quite a bit of deflections and by just being where she is supposed to be on the field. We have about five players who can score. I’m not worried about her scoring most of our goals so far.”

Bryan Cazett got one-on-one with the keeper and converted her second goal of the year in the 63rd minute. Morgan Peterson’s first goal of the spring came in the 58th minute.

“Our spacing tonight was excellent. The girls transitioned the ball up the field well,” Lamont said. “We really worked on our runs to the ball this week. We worked on shifting on the ball and our tactical game. I think they did well with that.”

The Cardinals (4-0) registered their third shutout of the season. And the only goal they’ve allowed was in the final minute to Boone.

Rori Nehring registered two saves against the Bobcats (0-5) and now has eight stops on the season.

The Bobcats best chance to score came with 21:30 to go in the match. One of Marshalltown’s five shots bounced off Nehring’s hands but the Cardinal keeper dove on the ball to stop play.

Freshmen Claire Close had nine saves for the Bobcats in a losing effort.

Notes: Newton’s 4-0 start is the program’s best since the Cardinals began 8-0 in 2017. … The 2A girls rankings include LHC representatives Norwalk (1), Dallas Center-Grimes (2) and Pella (12). Lamont hopes the early victories will give her squad momentum heading into the more challenging part of the schedule. “The cohesiveness, coach-ability and the versatility are there. We are always moving girls around and they are switching on their own. That has worked so far,” Lamont said. “I think we have gained some confidence with these early games. I think it should give us a boost going into some of the tougher games on our schedule.”