Cardinals, Tigerhawks thump Benton after head-to-head draw

When Payton Carkhuff is not playing soccer on the pitch, she might be seen shooting hoops on the hardwood.

Those two sports meshed together on Saturday when Carkhuff was tasked with a one-on-one defensive assignment against Colfax-Mingo’s Meadow Lane, who entered the Newton Cardinal Invitational with 19 goals in six matches this spring.

Carkhuff slowed Lane down enough to force a draw against the Tigerhawks and the Newton girls soccer team blasted Benton Community in the third and final match of the three-team Round Robin tournament at H.A. Lynn Stadium.

“She was tough. She’s a good player, but I forced her to her weak side and we did enough to slow her down,” Carkhuff said about the tough assignment. “It was the first time I’ve had to do that. I wasn’t as tired as I thought I’d be, but I felt it more in the second game.”

Carkhuff is an offensive player for the Cardinals, but without Alex Garvis in the lineup for the first time in her career, Newton head girls soccer coach Susan Altemeier and her staff decided putting an athletic basketball player on a prolific scorer was the best option, and it worked for most of the 60-minute match.

Lane scored the Tigerhawks’ only goal of the match on a penalty kick in the 58th minute to force the tie and eventual draw.

Colfax-Mingo stayed unbeaten for the season after its 7-1 win over Benton in the second match of the tournament.

“Newton was solid today, and they took one of their best offensive players and marked Meadow the entire game,” Colfax-Mingo head girls soccer coach Zach Tomas said. “Us coaches have to find a way to get her more involved in that situation.”

Newton downed the Bobcats, 9-0, in the finale and Sophia Coady led the way with a pair of hat tricks in each half.

It was the program’s largest margin of victory since defeating both Oskaloosa and Perry 10-0 back in 2022.

“We can see the skill set we went up against was a little lesser, but it gives us an opportunity to work on our passing accuracy and our give and gos and working together,” Altemeier said. “It will be a good boost going into Monday.”

The Cardinals (4-4-1) jumped out to an early lead against the Tigerhawks after Sophia Coady started her big day with a goal in the 22nd minute. She tapped in the ball after C-M keeper Emmalyn Buchman batted the ball in the air on the Cardinals’ initial shot attempt.

Colfax-Mingo out-shot Newton 11-8 and had a 6-5 advantage in shots on goal. But it took the visitors nearly the entire match to score a goal.

Lane’s penalty kick with 2:35 to play in the match was set up by a Newton hand ball inside the box.

“We had a lot of opportunities to score but couldn’t get them to go,” Altemeier said. “We’ll keep working at it. I would have liked to come out with a win, but that’s all right. We’ll take the tie.”

Altemeier said the decision to put more of an offensive player on Lane came down to having the ability to stay strong on the defensive end of the pitch.

“Without Garvis in there, we had to go a different direction,” Altemeier said. “Normally, we’d pull a defender in there to man mark, but we couldn’t sacrifice, in the event that (Carkhuff) got beat, not having another defensive player back there.

“(Carkhuff) plays basketball and is athletic. We told her it’s just like basketball. We didn’t want (Lane) to have free space. And it got into (Lane’s) head. She shut her down, and that’s all we needed to be successful.”

Buchman made three saves for Colfax-Mingo (6-0-2), while Newton’s Addy Cibula stopped five Tigerhawk shots on goal. Cibula now ranks third in Class 2A with 75 saves.

Both teams were missing at least one key player from its roster.

Garvis injured her knee in the Cardinals’ win over Albia on Thursday and could be out a significant amount of time.

Lily Webster, a starting forward, was absent for the Tigerhawks due to a wrestling event. She also missed the team’s road win over Fort Dodge on Thursday.

Colfax-Mingo trailed 1-0 against Benton, too. The Bobcats (1-5) scored in the 3rd minute before Victoria Woods tied the match with a goal off a nifty crosser from Lane.

It was only the sixth goal Colfax-Mingo has allowed in eight matches this season.

“We are not always perfect,” said veteran defender Lilyan Hadsall, who had one assist in the win over Benton. “We own the mistakes as a team and just move on. We win as a team and lose as a team and we keep after it no matter what the score is.”

It stayed 1-1 through the first half, and Baxter’s Ashlyn Finch gave the Tigerhawks a lead in the 38th minute. That goal came directly off a corner kick from Woods.

Woods, who left the Newton match with 13:50 to play due to an injury, had two goals in the win and now has five goals this spring.

“It was open most of the game,” Woods said about the crossing pass to the backside of the net. “As soon as Meadow dribbles to the corner, it opens up and I knew where I had to go.

“You just have to be in the right spot because Meadow will make the right decision for us. If she doesn’t have a good opportunity to shoot, she’s good at that crossing pass.”

Lane tallied a hat trick in the second half. She scored in the 31st minute, 47th minute and 50th minute to put the Tigerhawks in front 6-1 and Finch added her second of the game and season in the 55th minute to close out the win. She also dished out three assists.

Lane is up to 23 goals this season, which ranks tied for the most in the state. She also has a team-best six assists.

Buchman made two saves against the Bobcats and now has 13 saves this spring.

“Benton was a good bounce back for us,” Tomas said. “We got the momentum back and did a lot of good things.”

Colfax-Mingo trailed 1-0 in both games Saturday and also fell behind 1-0 in the win over Van Meter.

The Tigerhawks scored eight goals in the second half in their 10-0 win over Albia and put in three second-half goals in a 4-0 win over Williamsburg earlier this season, too.

“I think there was some bad luck on both goals today,” Tomas said. “We also have to clean up some of that, and they can be big momentum swings.

“We don’t talk about wanting to be down early. But they seem to play OK when they are down. That’s a testament to the girls not letting it impact them from that point on. Outside of the Clarke game, we just seem to be a second-half team. I don’t know if we just need to feel out how our opponents are going to play or what. I also think, for as small of a team as we have, our conditioning is top-notch. The girls don’t always like going and going and going in our practice drills because we don’t have others to fill in, but at the same time it’s not the worst because we’re getting extra conditioning there.”

Newton’s match against Benton was all about the scoring prowess of Coady, who tied a school record with six goals.

She posted a hat trick in each half, scoring her first goal in the 3rd minute. A bomb from 25 yards out near the sideline put the Cardinals in front 2-0 in the 15th minute and then she tallied a goal in the 28th minute.

Newton led 4-0 at halftime as Aliviah Ross added her sixth goal of the season in the 25th minute.

Coady displayed some impressive corner kicks in the second half. Her first successful attempt set up Carkhuff for a goal in the 31st minute.

“(Coady) has been giving me good balls all year, and it felt good to connect on that corner kick,” Carkhuff said.

Newton scored four goals in the first nine minutes of the second half to go up 8-0.

Merissa Schiebel blasted a shot from 33 yards out that went over the keeper’s head and into the back of the net. It was her second goal of the season.

Coady scored twice directly off corner kicks. The first one snuck past a Benton defender who whiffed on an attempt to clear it out and the second goal caromed off the keeper’s hands. Her fifth goal came in the 49th minute.

“It definitely boosted my confidence. I started off slow, but the more you score the more in the zone you get. It felt good,” Coady said. “Curving the ball from the corner into the goal is hard, but I’ve been working on it in practice.”

Coady now leads the team with eight goals and five assists, which ranks tied for 12th and tied for 11th in 2A, respectively.

Notes: Coady’s record-setting day could have been a little better. She had three chances in the final 7:25 to add to her goal total. The first attempt was a one-on-one opportunity that was saved by the Benton keeper and the final two hit off the crossbar. “She works really hard and when you don’t see the back of the net like you want, it’s frustrating,” Altemeier said. “This one should boost her confidence. She’s been a huge asset to this team.” … Altemeier said the injury to Garvis is still being assessed. Until she returns to the lineup, Schiebel will take her place in the defensive backfield and Quincy Davidson moves back into the starting lineup to replace Schiebel. “If you asked her, she’d tell you she’s playing Monday,” Altemeier said about Garvis. “There’s no damage. She ordered a knee brace and said she’d be back out there. We’ll see how she feels. It’s a big loss though. She’s a leader and has good soccer knowledge. However, we’ve prepared Merissa Schiebel to play multiple positions on the field, and she’s stepped into that role well.”

Newton 5, Albia 0

Ross posted her first hat trick of the season, Christelle Lahart scored the first goal of her prep career and the Cardinals shut out Albia, 5-0, on Thursday.

Newton led the non-conference contest 3-0 at halftime at H.A. Lynn Stadium.

Riley Plowman also scored one goal and Ross, Coady and Davidson dished out one assist each.

The Cardinals are now 4-1-1 in non-conference matches. Newton put 19 of its 21 shots on goal and Cibula made five saves.

It was the Cardinals’ first shutout of the season, while Albia (2-4) was shut out for a second time.

Newton played the game without Gabbie Humphrey, who missed the match with an illness.

The Cardinals also lost four-year starter Alex Garvis in the match due to a knee injury. Her timetable for a return has not yet been determined.

Colfax-Mingo 2, Grinnell 2

COLFAX — Colfax-Mingo remained unbeaten, but the Tigerhawks earned a draw against Grinnell on Monday night.

Lane and Woods each scored one goal and Buchman made two saves, but Colfax-Mingo couldn’t hold a halftime lead during a 2-2 tie.

Grinnell (1-2-1) scored both of its goals in the second half. Katelyn Sieck scored both goals for the Tigers and Maryn Sherman had nine saves.

Colfax-Mingo had a 16-6 advantage in shots and a 7-2 surplus in shots on goal.

Colfax-Mingo 1, Fort Dodge 0

FORT DODGE — Bianca Lane’s first-half goal from 30 yards out held up during the Tigerhawks’ 1-0 win over Fort Dodge on Thursday.

Colfax-Mingo stayed unbeaten on Bianca Lane’s third goal of the season. The Tigerhawks posted their fourth shutout and are outscoring opponents 39-6 this spring. Fort Dodge (0-3) has been outscored 12-0.