Newton girls open LHC play with loss to Eagles

The Newton girls soccer team entered Tuesday’s Little Hawkeye Conference opener on a two-match win streak.

The Cardinals registered back-to-back 2-0 victories after dropping their season opener to Marshalltown last week.

The win streak ended against Pella Christian though as the 4-1 loss to the Eagles at H.A. Lynn Stadium looked similar to their loss to the Bobcats.

“If the girls would play the formation we practice all the time, stay in our spots and shift correctly, we would be more successful,” Newton head girls soccer coach Susan Altemeier said.

The Cardinals converted their only shot on goal in the first half but struggled to get any clean looks at the net in the match.

Pella Christian finished with a 13-4 advantage in shots and had a 10-4 surplus in shots on goal.

“We didn’t get too many good shots. They were taken from too far away,” Altemeier said. “Another option would be to make the extra pass to get closer to the goal.

“We had people on top of each other and it’s hard to play the game that way.”

The Eagles (3-1, 1-0 in the LHC) struck first in the match. They were awarded a free kick just outside the box following a foul on Newton and took advantage of the opportunity.

The free kick bounced off the crossbar, but Claire Winn-Fogle scored off the deflection in the 7th minute.

Aliviah Ross scored the Cardinals’ only goal of the match in the 8th minute. It was her second goal of the season and Cailyn Doland delivered the assist.

It stayed 1-all until the Eagles went back in front late in the first half. With 21.9 seconds on the clock, Lexi Terpstra scored on a penalty kick that was awarded to Pella Christian after Newton was whistled for a hand ball in the box.

The Cardinals (2-2, 0-1) were called for a handful of hand balls in the contest.

“When we get beat, it’s usually because we play from behind. We need to get our bodies under control,” Altemeier said. “(Hand balls) haven’t been an issue this year. It might have been just the way the night was going.”

Pella Christian tacked on two more goals in the second half. Karis Fikkert made it 3-1 when she converted a shot just in front of the net in the 45th minute. It was set up by a crosser from Terpstra.

Chloe Snyder finalized the scoring with a fourth goal in the 70th minute.

Ema Zula added an assist for the Eagles, while goalie Maddy Van Zee made one save.

Natalee Freese finished with three saves for Newton. Both teams attempted one corner kick.

“We still need to work on our spacial awareness, stay in our formations, and quite frankly, not be lazy,” Altemeier said. “We need to run consistently on the field and we didn’t do that tonight. We weren’t first to the ball enough and we have to be first to the ball to be successful.

“We passed the ball to the other team too much. We don’t look before we kick the ball. That also goes back to staying in our formation so our teammates are where they are supposed to be.”

Notes: Newton junior Riley Plowman left the game in the 2nd minute after re-aggravating an injury. She began the season on a minutes restriction from an injury she suffered during basketball season.