Lampe’s Golden Goal sends Newton boys past Knoxville

KNOXVILLE — With matches on back-to-back nights, playing 100 minutes is not ideal.

But the Class 3A No. 9 Newton boys’ soccer team left Knoxville with a victory on Monday night.

Nate Lampe scored the Golden Goal in double overtime and the Cardinals downed the Knoxville Panthers 1-0 in non-conference play.

“We dominated in every aspect of the game, but we didn’t have it in the final third,” Newton head boys soccer coach Zach Jensen said. “That happens. We have to compete. A win is a win. It wasn’t ideal to play 100 minutes with a massive game against Pella (on Tuesday).”

Lampe scored the game-winning goal on a free kick from about 22 yards out. The Cardinals took 28 shots and put 10 of them on goal and Hunter Teague finished with four saves.

Jensen said Caleb Mattes scored twice in the second half but both goals were taken off the board. The Cardinals (8-4) were called for offsides on one of the plays and Mattes was whistled for a foul against the goalie on the other one.

“It didn’t look like a foul to me,” Jensen said. “Another shutout is good though. We controlled the goal. It’s always good to not be scored on.”

The goal by Lampe was his seventh of the season and he now has a team-best 27 points this spring, which ranks tied for eighth in 3A.

Newton pitched its fourth shutout of the spring. Knoxville (6-3) was 3-0 in 1-0 games prior to Monday’s loss.

The Cardinals are 10-3 against Knoxville since 2011. They’ve won two straight in the series and six of the past seven.

Pella 5, Newton 3

PELLA — The Cardinals dropped their second straight Little Hawkeye Conference match on Tuesday.

Newton fell behind 3-0 at halftime and couldn’t recover during a 5-3 road loss to Pella.

“We had the exact same scoreline last year except we were on the winning side,” Jensen said. “They were ready for this game. They had this one circled. They were ready for revenge. We needed to get to another level and just didn’t.”

Teddy Apostolopoulos and Logan Solomon each scored twice for the Dutch. Apostolopoulos had two assists and Solomon chipped in one assist.

Pella (4-4 overall, 1-2 in the conference) got a goal from Solomon with 1 second left in the first half to push the halftime margin to 3-0.

“I was fuming at halftime,” Jensen said. “I’m not sure I have been madder at any point in my career. We were in gear one in the first half and never got to gear two or three. We went through the motions.”

Mattes scored Newton’s first goal in the 50th minute, but Pella answered right back with back-to-back goals to improve its lead to 5-1.

Lampe and Jacob Sweeney scored in the final 11 minutes off assists from Mattes, but it was too little too late for the Cardinals.

“When we play high tempo, we are hard to play against,” Jensen said. “We switched formations with about 12 minutes left and scored twice. It was just too late.”

Lampe and Lawson each contributed an assist on the Mattes goal early in the second half. It was Lampe’s 13th assist this spring, which ranks tied for second in 3A. Lawson’s nine assists currently rank eighth.

The Cardinals (3-2 in conference play) put 10 of their 16 shots on goal and Teague made 10 saves in his 80 minutes in goal.

Jensen is not a fan of playing on back-to-back nights, but soccer in Iowa is set up to play a lot of games in a two-month span.

“We used two subs against Knoxville in the 100 minutes and used three tonight,” Jensen said. “The guys are exhausted. We shouldn’t have to play this many games in two months. They need to find a way to make our season longer, but it is what it is.”

Notes: Lampe and Cody Klein are dual-sporting with track and field this spring. The Cardinal soccer team hosts Johnston on Friday, but Lampe and Klein also are scheduled to run in the Drake Relays 4x400-meter relay at 8:48 p.m. “We are leaving it up to them,” Jensen said. “If they decide to play soccer, we’ll move the varsity game to 5:30 and they’ll play a half for us. If they decide to just run, we’ll start the varsity game at 7:15.”