In the 60th minute, however, Newton senior Anna Forsyth got raced past the MHS back line and netted a goal for a 1-0 lead, then junior Keely Birkenholtz followed with a goal seven minutes later to give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead that would hold until the final horn sounded.

Marshalltown head coach Stacy Galema said while the Bobcats (0-11) were shut out for the 10th time this year, she liked what the team was attempting offensively against Newton (6-6).

“I think we got several different people involved and I don’t think we necessarily looked to the goal as much as we could,” Galema said. “It’s good to see they are finding opportunities and not just relying on one person. As I’ve said all season, we are not a team that has a super star, we don’t have a couple girls that are going to score all our goals, you’ve got to work really hard with your teammates and move the ball, pass the ball, move the defense so you can find an opportunity for you or your teammates to get a shot.”

Marshalltown finished the game with 13 total shots from nine different girls, the most shots the girls have had in a game all season. Senior Trinity See led the way with five shots, one on goal, while girls like freshman Anna DiIorio made their presence felt coming in off the bench.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON • Marshalltown sophomore Jade Tejada, right, is nudged off the ball by Newton’s Marcelina Marvelli in the Cardinal’s box during the Bobcats’ 2-0 loss on Monday at Leonard Cole Field.

Galema said this influx of offense has been coming along all season, and it started in their last home game against Johnston.

“The beginning of the season is always tough but I think it took a little longer than usual to kind of get to playing team soccer,” Galema said. “At first it was ‘I’m going to take them on one-on-one, I’m going to try to do it myself,’ and this and that. Tonight we were trying to actually build something and not just one opportunity but multiple opportunities.”

Defensively, senior goalkeeper Victoria Johnson once again had a good night between the posts, recording 13 saves in the loss. Galema said her team is doing a better job of making Johnson’s night less stressful with the way they are playing on defense.

“At Dowling on Friday a lot of their goals were from right inside either at the six or near the PK spot,” Galema said. “We talked about how any team is going to score those goals, we have to make them shoot from further out, and I think especially in the first half we did a good job of making the saves that Victoria made easy saves.”

It’s been a tough run of late for the Bobcats, as three of the previous four games before Monday had been 10-0 losses to ranked teams in Class 3A. Galema said those games weren’t ideal situations, but her girls have been able to learn from the hardships.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON • Marshalltown freshman Anna DiIorio (19) pursues the ball while Newton’s Rachel Rhoads gives chase during the Bobcats’ loss to the Cardinals on Monday at Leonard Cole Field.

“We’ve had a lot of games against high-quality opponents lately,” Galema said. “One of the things we’ve talked about after each game is what are those teams doing that they are finding success? What are they doing that we can take to our team and kind of build into our program? One thing we’ve focused on is getting our defense involved in our offense because we knew that we would have opportunities for that today.”

With just two games left on the schedule before the start of the postseason, Galema said her girls still need to continue rounding out as a team if they want to earn a victory before the year is out.

“It’s playing team soccer, tonight we talked about how there was a point about 10 minutes in where we had a bunch of aggression and we were pushing up the field and that’s something they have to have all the time,” she said. “For us, how we need to finish is playing at a team and getting everyone involved because everybody has a skill so you need to find their strength and play to their strength.”

The Bobcats next host Des Moines North on Friday at 6:15 p.m. for their final home bout of the season at Leonard Cole Field.

Newton 2, Marshalltown 0

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

At Marshalltown

Newton 0 2 — 2

MHS 0 0 — 0

First half

No scoring.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

Second half

NWT — Anna Forsyth, 59:58

NWT — Keely Kirkenholtz, 66:15

Goalkeepers — NWT: Addy Blom (5 shot on goal, 5 saves); MHS: Victoria Johnson (15-13).

Shots — NWT 22, MHS 13

Shots on goal — NWT 15, MHS 13

Corner kicks — NWT 3, MHS 1