Short-handed Cardinals fall to Marshalltown in season opener

MARSHALLTOWN — Fourteen of the past 16 matches involving Newton and Marshalltown dating back to 2011 have ended in shutout wins.

The Cardinals have 11 of those, but the Bobcats have flipped the script in recent seasons and posted their third straight win over Newton following a 2-0 home victory on Monday.

“I think it went well for most of them not playing together,” Newton head girls soccer coach Susan Altemeier said. “Our back line is experienced and they’ve played together, but filling the other spots has been a challenge without (Aliviah) Ross and (Riley) Plowman in there.”

Newton was short-handed in the contest at Leonard Cole Field. And the Cardinals didn’t have a scrimmage to get the cob webs out either. Altemeier expects her squad to be more cohesive as players return from injury.

Ross was not available after needing emergency surgery to remove an appendix last week. She may be able to play in Friday’s game against Boone.

Plowman has not yet been cleared from an injury she suffered before the season. And Altemeier said she may still be two weeks away.

That forced the Cardinal coaching staff to play younger players who may not quite be ready for the varsity level. They’ve also dealt with a few illnesses during preseason practices.

“They just need to communicate better, and we need more cohesion, which they’ll get,” Altemeier said. “We haven’t had maybe one or two practices where our whole team is there. We’ve been dealing with some sicknesses and injuries.”

The Cardinals (0-1) outshot the Bobcats 10-4 in the contest. Marshalltown though put in half of its attempts, scoring once in each half.

Claire Bonzer scored the game-winning goal with 14:06 to play in the first half.

A Newton foul in the box gave the Bobcats (1-0) a penalty kick with 27:09 left in the match, and McKenna Coleman improved the margin to 2-0 after pushing the ball past Cardinal keeper Addy Cibula.

It was the first career varsity start for Cibula, who is playing soccer for the first time in almost a decade. She made two saves in her 80 minutes between the pipes.

“It was a positive outcome based on last year’s game,” Altemeier said. “And it could have been 1-0. Asking a brand new goalie to stop a PK is tough.

“There were some good give and gos between Peyton (Carkhuff) and Sophia (Coady). Things just didn’t go our way down near the goal.”

The Cardinals’ best chance to score came with 13:10 to play in the first half.

Coady nearly came up with the equalizer after Marshalltown’s first goal but couldn’t quite put the ball past Bobcat keeper Sophia Valdez Chavez, who finished with six saves in her 80 minutes.

“We need to come to the ball. We wait until it gets to us, and we’re a half second too slow on everything we do,” Altemeier said. “Our first touches weren’t good enough either.”

Notes: Newton is 13-3 against Marshalltown since 2011. The Bobcats have won three straight matches in the series by a combined 7-0 score. They won 4-0 last spring.