The Newton Lady Rams soccer team hosted the Lady Luella Lions in region play Friday night, suffering a 5-0 defeat to the Lady Lions.
Newton surrendered its first goal in the game’s opening 10 minutes and never put together its offensive game plan, but Newton Coach David Alexander said he saw some improvement on the defensive side of the ball.
“Well, we realized that this team that we were playing in Luella wasn’t as strong as they’ve been in years past, and I feel that we took recognition of that,” Alexander said. ““It wasn’t like the last game (when) our defense wasn’t very tight.”
The Lady Lions began the night’s scoring with in the first 10 minutes of game. Anessia Rucker knocked in Luella’s first goal, giving the Lady Lions a 1-0 lead.
The Lady Lions’ Kayla Trace was able to net one more score before the first half ended, giving Luella a 2-0 advantage heading into halftime.
Early in the second half, the Lady Rams showed defensive improvements. However, the Lady Rams were unable to contain the Lady Lions, who scored their third goal in the second half, the second of the game from Trace.
The Lady Lions netted two more scores in the game, both coming from Rebecca Holliday.
Holliday’s scores clinched the 5-0 win for Luella, dropping the Lady Rams to 1-3 overall and 1-2 in Region 2-AAAAAA.
The Lady Lions went on to win the game 5-0 and that loss gave the Lady Rams a 1-3 record overall and a 0-2 record in Region2-AAAAAA.
Rams fall
In Friday’s late game, the Newton Rams hosted Luella in region action, falling 6-2 to the Lions.
Despite rallying to tie the score at 2-2 in the first half, Newton surrendered a goal just before halftime and gave up three second-half goals in a scoreless period for the Rams.
Newton coach Lavon White said that he hoped his team could learn from the loss.
“I thought our field spacing was horrible,” White said. “I just hope that we can bounce back and build off of this.”
The Lions scored the first goal of the game within the first 17 seconds of action, going up 1-0 on a score by Tristan Turpin. Jean Frimpong knotted the score up with a Newton goal.
The Lions claimed the lead back on a goal by Trey Finch, going up 2-1, but a few minutes later, Frimpong tied the game again at 2-2 with his second goal of the contest.
Both teams continued to play hard on both sides of the ball, but the Lions took the lead on a goal from Finch, who was assisted by Turpin, just before the half ended, giving the Lions a 3-2 lead at halftime.
The Rams came out in the second half looking to tie the game and eventually take the lead, but the Lions held on to their advantage, increasing their lead in the second half.
Luella scored three times in the second period, the first score coming on an assist from John-Carlo Monalpo that was finished by Miguel Delgado.
But the Lions were not finished there.
Turpin added his second goal of the contest, and the fifth for the Lions, giving Luella a three-goal lead.
The Lions’ last goal of the game came on an own goal by the Rams, capping off the 6-2 final.
The loss drops the Rams a 2-2 overall record on the season with a 1-1 mark in Region 2-AAAAAA.
