Newton soccer players earn state honors

One final time Josh Ventling and Ryanne Rausch carried the banner of Newton High soccer onto the pitch. The two NHS seniors played in the 2017 Iowa East-West All-Star Cup soccer games earlier this month at Valley Stadium in West Des Moines.

The All-Star Cup games were the hosted by the Des Moines Menace. The Iowa High School Soccer Coaches Association organizes the cup for boys and girls games, which are presented by Soccer Master.

Ventling, Rausch and fellow Newton senior soccer players Ashlee Freese, Taylor Shipley and Justin Fischer earned state-wide honors to wrap up their final season for the Cardinal soccer teams.

The Iowa Girls Coaches Association released their 2017 All-District and All-State soccer teams. Rausch, a forward, was named to the IGCA Class 2A All-State first team after garnering second-team honors as a junior.

Freese, Newton’s three-year starting goalkeeper, received 2A All-State second team honors.

Rausch, who became Newton girls’ all-time leading scorer with 110 goals, also earned IGCA All-Central District first-team honors. Freese and Shipley, a mid-fielder, were named to the Central District second team.

Ventling received 2017 2A All-State second-team honors from the Iowa High School Soccer Coaches Association. He earned honorable mention honors as a junior. Fischer garnered 2017 IaHSSCA 2A honorable mention honors.

Unfortunately, after repeated attempts to obtain the 2017 IaHSSCA Girls’ All-State teams, the Newton Daily News does not have that information as of press time.

Rausch, Freese and Shipley helped lead Newton’s girls to back-to-back 2A state tournament appearances.

The Cardinal girls finished 13-5 and ranked 14th in 2A.

Rausch became the all-time career scorer for Newton girls’ soccer and reached the 100-plus career goal total this season. After leading the Cardinals, the conference and 2A in scoring the past two seasons, Rausch concluded her four-year career with 28 goals this season. She was second in goal scoring in the Little Hawkeye Conference and tied for fourth in 2A.

Rausch finished with 110 career goals and is among a handful of girl soccer players in Iowa to reach the 100-career goal mark. She led the Cardinals in scoring and was second in assists with six, which was ninth-best in the LHC. Rausch earned first-team LHC honors three years straight and was a second-team selection as a freshman.

Freese made 163 saves in 18 games, including the 1-0 loss in the state tournament to Lewis Central, which repeated as 2A champion. She allowed 14 goals and had eight shutouts in goal for the Cardinals.

Shipley led the team in assists with a seven which tied her for seventh in the category among LHC players. Shipley, who earned LHC honorable mention as a junior, scored five goals.

Ventling, who played mid-fielder for the Newton boys, had 13 goals and eight assists for Newton, which was second for the team. He was the eighth on the Little Hawkeye Conference scoring list and tied for seventh on the assist list.

Ventling was a four-year all-conference player in the LHC. He was a first-team all-conference mid-fielder two years straight.

Fischer led the team with 17 goals and nine assists.

Fischer, who will play for Central College next year, was the third-leading scorer in the LHC and tied for fifth in assists. He was a first-team LHC forward for the Cardinals.

On June 17, Ventling played on the East squad in the boys’ Iowa East-West All-Star Cup game. He scored the lone goal for the East in regulation play. After a 1-all tie, the West won in a shootout (4-3) for the 2-1 victory.

On, June 24, Rausch scored two of the girls’ East team’s three goals in a 4-3 loss to the West in the Iowa East-West All-Star Cup game.

Her second goal at the 65th minute put the East in front 3-2 but the West tallied two more goals for the win.