Amelia Newman picks up two goals, Blue Jays earn win No. 7

Apr. 30—JAMESTOWN — The rain wasn't Bismarck Century's worst enemy on Tuesday night.

Rather it was the Jamestown High School soccer team.

Jamestown improved its home field record to 5-0 Tuesday night defeating Century 3-0. Next up on the Jays' three-game week schedule is a 5 p.m. tilt at Mandan on Thursday

The rain might have made for some less-than-optimal playing conditions but it couldn't douse the Blue Jays' intensity or spirits.

"No one wants to play in wet, rainy weather on grass but I think the girls did a phenomenal job tonight for what they were asked to do," JHS head coach Colton Altringer said. "I will take the win today."

In the 18th minute, Amelia Newman made good on a pass from Layla Becker to put the home team up 1-0.

"I was really excited that I could hit Layla's ball in finally," Newman said. "I couldn't have scored that goal without my teammates making the runs in. Layla just had really good balls that way so it made it easy for that goal to happen."

26 minutes into the second half, Newman's name got entered into the stat books again.

Newman was credited with an own goal by Century's defense to make it a 2-0 ball game.

"I was surprised that it went in, but without my teammates asking for it, the ball wouldn't have been played in the first place," Newman said. "My teammates did a good job of talking on that."

Newman, a freshman for the Jays, has been playing soccer since the summer after sixth grade. She joined the Blue Jay program in 2022 as a seventh grader and has been a part of the varsity program ever since.

"Newman is a workhorse," Altringer said. "That kid — I know what I am going to get out of her every game. She's going to work her tail off, she's going to go into every 50-50 challenge hard-nosed and tough as nails and sometimes, at the end of the day, she's just going to out-will the other player and there is nothing you can do."

Altringer has coached Newman — both at the club and high school levels — since she moved to Jamestown from Fargo.

"I've seen her grow the last couple of summers," Altringer said. "She's now taking her athleticism and combining it with a soccer intelligence. She can be as fast as any other player on the field but she's also being engaged mentally on the pitch. She's not only going to outwork you but she's also going to outthink you."

Going up against Century was a bit intimidating for Newman but the freshman said she had confidence that the Blue Jay squad would keep its composure and continue to fight for every ball.

"It's definitely very challenging to go against upperclassmen from older teams because they have more experience and are stronger than us but it also gives me the opportunity to grow from my mistakes as a younger player," Newman said. "We stayed strong tonight and fought through it."

The Blue Jays are now officially in the back half of their season and only have eight more games on the schedule before the Class A State Tournament scheduled to run May 30-June 1. As of April 30, the Jays are 7-1. Mandan is also 7-1 while Minot is undefeated at 7-0.

"I think we have a chance of making it to State right away," Newman said. "We have a few challenging games coming up but if we just push through those, I think we can be one of those higher seeds out of the West."

Jamestown 3, Century 0

BC 0 0 — 0

JHS 1 2 — 3

Scoring

First half

1. JHS, Amelia Newman (Layla Becker), 18th minute.

Second half

2. Century own goal (Newman) 66th minute; 3. JHS, Maggie Godboldt (Briella Martin), 74th minute.

Shots on goal: Century 4; Jamestown 7

Goalkeeper saves: Century, Ashlyn Hagerott 5; Jamestown, Olivia Sorlie 4