Newton boys end skid against Marshalltown, down Bobcats to open season

The last time the Newton boys’ soccer team defeated Marshalltown was 2017. The most recent 1-0 start to the season came in 2019.

Both of those streaks came to an end on Monday as the Cardinals scored early and downed the Bobcats 3-1 during a home victory at H.A. Lynn Stadium.

“It’s great to start the season off with a win,” Newton head boys soccer coach Zach Jensen said. “This is a huge win for seeding later on down the road. They are a Class 4A team so we get more points for that.”

The Bobcats were 4-0 against Newton in the last four meetings and they are 9-3 against the Cardinals since 2011.

But Newton scored in the 6th minute and never looked back in the season opener.

Nate Lampe made it 1-0 when he got loose behind the defense after a long throw-in by Christian Lawson.

Lampe finished the match with one goal and two assists and Lawson added one goal and one assist.

“Something that was key for the win today was grit,” Lampe said. “We had so many people believing and competing. That’s going to be our rock this year.

“The pass was amazing. That was a dream start for us. To be able to start 1-0 allowed us to play with so much more confidence.”

The Cardinals (1-0) were outshot 11-8 and the Bobcats had an 8-3 advantage in shots on goal in the first half. But at one point, the only two shots on goal for Newton were converted into goals.

The hosts went in front 2-0 when Bairon Martinez-Ramirez scored the first varsity goal of his career in the 24th minute.

The goal came after a long throw-in by Lampe. The ball deflected off Lawson before Martinez-Ramirez shot it past the Bobcat keeper.

“It was good to start fast. That allowed us to do what we do,” Lawson said. “We had the momentum and kept it.”

The Bobcats’ best opportunity to score in the first half came in the 9th minute but their hard shot sailed over the crossbar.

In the second half, Marshalltown (0-1) got another solid chance to crack the scoreboard. This time, Cardinal keeper Hunter Teague made a leaping one-handed save that sent the ball over the top of the goal.

That set up a Bobcat corner kick that eventually resulted in a Newton foul inside the box. The penalty kick from Mang Chawn made it 2-1, but Teague finished with 11 saves in his first varsity start.

“Hunter was unreal tonight,” Jensen said. “The kind of saves he was making were extremely impressive. He was making saves right and left and they were not easy saves. They were full-out saves, and he was a huge part of us getting the win.”

Lampe went as far as saying the Cardinals do not win the match without Teague’s effort in goal.

“He was a monster tonight,” Lampe said. “He had so many key saves, and there’s no way we win this game without him.”

The Cardinals’ answered Marshalltown’s penalty-kick goal with a goal of their own around 150 seconds later.

This time, Lawson made it 3-1 and Lampe delivered another assist.

“Our two main motos this year are believing and competing,” Jensen said. “We have to believe in this team and we have to compete, which means putting the desire, the hunger and the grit into our play.

“We have to have those things. There are programs that might be better soccer players than us, but there’s nobody who’s going to work harder than us.”

Marshalltown held an advantage of 8-7 in shots, 4-2 in shots on goal and 2-0 in corner kicks during the second half. But Newton’s defense executed the strategy to near perfection.

“They are a technical team. They like to pass it around and build up and a lot of times we fall for some of the trickery,” Jensen said about the recent losses. “That’s something we focused on. We wanted to delay and put numbers in front of them. They can’t go anywhere then.”

Notes: Newton lost to Marshalltown 4-3 last season and was outscored 11-3 in the three meetings before that. … Teague was injured briefly on the Bobcats’ penalty kick. Lawson played goalie for about a minute before Teague returned to the field. Lawson’s older brother, Caleb, was the starting goalie last season. “I guess I have a little Caleb Lawson in me,” Christian Lawson said.