Newton boys blast Boone, edge SE Polk in overtime

BOONE — Newton’s boys soccer team made lineup and formation changes for its non-conference matchup with Boone on Friday night.

Pair the changes with a Toreadors squad who is yet to find the win column and it was a 9-0 blowout for the visiting Cardinals.

“We went to a brand new lineup,” Newton boys head soccer coach Zach Jensen said. “The urgency we lacked in our last few games was there and the intensity level was up.”

Newton led 5-0 at halftime. The Cardinals snapped their two-match losing streak with the easy win.

Jensen and his coaching staff made a few adjustments on the field. They moved Derek Beiner up to forward and pulled Nate Lampe back to the midfield, switched to a three-defender back line and brought Dustin Deanda up from JV. Deanda made his varsity debut as the defensive mid.

“Beiner has some speed and some technical skill and when Lampe was up there he was falling back a lot of times anyway,” Jensen said. “Where we have Lampe at now is perfect for him. He can just smack it from the 18 box.”

For one night at least, the changes paid off. Newton finished with 42 shots and 22 shots on goal.

Beiner and Lampe both registered hat tricks, Hunter Kennedy dished out four assists and Cody Klein, Christian Lawson and Bryar Annee all scored one goal and had one assist.

Two of Beiner’s goals came in the first half. He made it 1-0 and 5-0 and the assists on his goals came from Annee and Kennedy.

Kennedy also had assists to Klein and Lawson and Lawson assisted Lampe’s first goal.

Annee made it 6-0 in the second half off a Beiner assist. Lampe scored the next two goals on passes from Klein and Kennedy and Beiner’s final goal was assisted by Bryen Hernandez.

Caleb Lawson played 80 minutes in goal and recorded four saves.

“Soccer is a chess match, but you still have to play 11 v 11,” Jensen said. “The game probably should have been over sooner. We missed some easy goals that we will need to make against better competition.”

Boone fell to 0-5 after the loss and has been outscored 33-3 this season.

The Cardinals (5-3) have six players with at least two goals and Kennedy leads the state with 12 assists. Lampe leads the team with eight goals and Beiner now has five goals and five assists.

“I love the production. We are all over the board when it comes to goals scored and assists,” Jensen said. “I love to see it.”

Newton 2, Southeast Polk 1, overtime

Christian Lawson has started the past two seasons for the Cardinals’ defense.

But with the strong leg he possesses, the Newton coaching staff often pushes him forward for set pieces and it has paid dividends for the squad this spring.

Christian Lawson put in both of the Cardinals’ goals against Southeast Polk during a home match on Saturday. The Cardinals downed the Rams 2-1 in overtime at H.A. Lynn Stadium in a game that was made up from an early-season postponement.

“He has a big leg on him and is athletic,” Jensen said of the team’s decision to make Christian Lawson more of an offensive threat. “We like to push him forward at times and give him a more attacking role. It’s paid off for us.”

Christian Lawson’s two goals against the Rams (1-5) brings his season total to six, which ranks second on the team.

Overall, the Cardinals took 32 shots and had 16 shots on goal.

Southeast Polk led the match 1-0 at halftime. The Rams scored in the 14th minute and it remained 1-0 until Christian Lawson scored an unassisted goal in the 45th minute.

The Cardinal sophomore tallied the Golden Goal with 5 minutes to go in the first overtime session. The strike was assisted by Kennedy.

Caleb Lawson started in goal again for Newton, but left the match for about 20 minutes after sustaining an injury. He returned, completed the game and finished with five saves.

Hunter Teague made one save in his 20 minutes in goal.

Southeast Polk has lost five in a row and was outscored 16-3 in those losses.

Four of the past five meetings between these two programs have been decided by one goal.

“We were optimistic, but this game is always a dogfight,” Jensen said. “That’s what it was again. Both teams were gritty. We didn’t back down.”