The tone of Susan Altemeyer's voice on Monday said it all. The Newton girls soccer head coach was dissatisfied with the final result of his team's season opener against Marshalltown.
The Bobcats scored two goals in each half and held Newton to just five shots on goal in the game, winning 4-0 on the road.
“It's pretty frustrating,” Altemeyer said. “We don't have the skill set we need. We need to stay connected within our formation, we need to play our positions more effectively, and we need to run consistently from there. And then it stops. Marshalltown ran and ran and ran.”
The Bobcats outscored Newton 13-3 in the first half and had a 7-1 advantage in shots on goal and a 3-1 edge in corner kicks.
Sarah Huffman took the lead with a penalty kick in the 10th minute. Yuri Ramirez scored in the 24th minute to make it 2-0.
The Bobcats (1-0) held an 11-6 shot advantage in the second half and outscored the Cardinals 5-4 in shots on goal. Marshalltown also took all three corner kicks.
McKenna Coleman scored in the 61st minute for the Bobcats, and Newton (0-1) fell behind 3-0. Seven minutes later, Carol Gomez-Reyes scored a goal to round out the scoring.
“When you look at Marshalltown, people tend to focus on the lower level teams, but this team has grown a lot since last year,” Altemeyer said. “We had good give-and-gos and good connections, but we need to work on our passing.
“We're working on our conditioning, but we still have a ways to go to get there.”
Altemeyer would like to work on some things in practice, but he doesn't have time these days. The Cardinals had a scrimmage on Friday, opened the season against Marshalltown on Monday and faced Williamsburg on Tuesday.
“I'm going to work on the pattern of play, but I don't have time yet,” Altemeyer said. “Tomorrow could be a positive play to get ourselves back together. But we need to communicate better. There's a lot to work on, so we'll continue to be pragmatic. ”
Newton is 13-2 against Marshalltown since 2011, but the Bobcats have won two straight in the series.
Natalie Freese made 12 saves in 80 minutes in goal for Newton.