No. 1 Norwalk edges Newton girls soccer

Apr. 29—NORWALK — Newton's girls soccer team is close to breaking through. But the Cardinals suffered another one-goal loss on Tuesday night.

This time, Newton fell behind to Norwalk early and never recovered during a 2-1 loss.

The Warriors are ranked No. 1 in Class 2A, according to the power rankings at ia.varsitybound.com. Tuesday's Little Hawkeye Conference loss was the fourth decided by one goal and three of those programs are ranked in the top eight of their respective classes.

"Norwalk is a very skilled team," Newton girls soccer coach Abby Lamont said. "We played a much better second half than first. Our connection and tactical ability is coming along."

Norwalk (7-0 overall, 3-0 in the conference) led 1-0 at halftime and went up 2-0 in the second half.

Newton (4-5, 1-2) got on the board with 11 minutes left when Madi Altemeier scored on a free kick from 40 yards out with the help of Audrey Rausch, who shielded the Warrior keeper.

It was the first goal of the season for Altemeier and the seventh Cardinal to score a goal in 2021. Aurora Nehring had 24 saves in the loss.