Nevada Journal sports round-up: Nevada soccer teams qualify for state

Nevada placed eighth at the Class 3A girls state golf meet at the Pheasant Ridge Golf Course in Cedar Falls and both Cub soccer teams are headed to state.

The Cub girls golf team shot a 736 over 36 holes last Thursday and Friday at the Pheasant Ridge course. The 1A No. 2 Nevada girls soccer team scored a 1-0 victory over No. 9 Center Point-Urbana during the 1A Region 2 final Thursday and the 2A No. 5 boys blanked Knoxville by a 4-0 score in the 2A Substate 6 final last Wednesday, with both games taking part at Cub Stadium in Nevada.

The Nevada baseball team went 1-2 during the week with a 4-3 loss at Prairie City-Monroe May 23 in Prairie City, a 10-0 victory over Roland-Story at home May 25 and an 11-4 loss to West Marshall Friday at the Nevada Cubs Baseball Field.

The Cub baseball team went to 2-3 overall and 1-2 in the Heart of Iowa Conference.

The Nevada softball team opened the season 0-3, both overall and in the HOIC, after losing at PCM (19-0) May 22, at home to Roland-Story (12-2) May 24 and at home against West Marshall (17-7) Friday. Statistics for the games were not available at press deadline.

The Colo-NESCO baseball team suffered losses to Collins-Maxwell (3-2) May 24 in Collins, Madrid (15-5) May 25 in Zearing and Baxter (13-3) Friday in Zearing. The Royals fell to 3-3 overall and 1-2 in the Iowa Star Conference South Division.

The Royal softball team went 1-4 overall and 1-2 in the ISC South during its first week of competition. Colo-NESCO lost at home to BCLUW May 22 (10-3), at Collins-Maxwell May 24 (8-0) and to both Wapello (2-1) and English Valleys (11-6) at the Williamsburg Tournament Saturday.

The Royals picked up their first victory at home Friday over Baxter by a 9-6 score.

Here is what we learned from last week's Nevada and Colo-NESCO high school sports performances.

Two Cubs place in top 25 at 3A girls state golf meet

Led by Olivia Axmear and Bridget Cahill, the Nevada girls put together a solid effort at the 3A girls state golf tournament.

Nevada scored a 375 Thursday and a 361 Friday to end up defeating Central DeWitt (760) and MOC-Floyd Valley (764) in the 10-team 3A field.

“It was exciting to come here as a team,” Nevada senior Bridget Cahill. “We turned it around on the second day. We all played a lot better.”

Cahill shot rounds of 91 and 85 to finish 23rd with a 176.

“I was happy with making a lot of pars down the stretch,” Cahill said. “I was happy with how I turned it around today.”

Olivia Axmear led Nevada with a 14th-place score of 167 after turning in 18-hole scores of 83 and 84. Axmear beat her score of 175 at last year's state meet when she qualified individually as a sophomore and tied for 14th.

“I know she’s a little disappointed placement-wise, but she played well these last two days,” Cahill said. “She was very consistent. “I’m happy for her.”

Reagan Schmidt took 36th with a 186, Mary Hensley 60th with a 207 and Lauren Schmidt 63rd with a 215 for Nevada. Caitlin Johnson shot a 117 the first day and Mya Spykerman a 101 the second day for the Cubs.

Gilbert won the 3A team championship with a team score of 653 and Dubuque Wahlert finished second with a 672. Gilbert's Eden Lohrbach was the 3A state medalist for the second time in three years after shooting a 1-under-par score of 143 and Clear Lake's Rebecca DeLong was runner-up with a 148.

Final Class 3A girls state golf team scores (36 holes): 1. Gilbert 332-321-653, 2. Dubuque Wahlert 341-331-672, 3. Clear Lake 339-337-676, 4. Washington 341-347-688, 5. Cedar Rapids Xavier 344-352-696, 6. Lisbon 359-365-724, 7. West Delaware 366-362-728, 8. Nevada 375-361-736, 9. Central DeWitt 375-385-760, 10. MOC-Floyd Valley 384-380-764.

Nevada (736): Olivia Axmear 83-84-167, Bridget Cahill 91-85-176, Reagan Schmidt 95-91-186, Mary Hensley 106-101-207, Lauren Schmidt 113-102-215, Caitlin Johnson 117-NA, Mya Spykerman NA-101.

Top 10 individual scores: 1. Eden Lohrbach (Gilbert) 70-73-143, 2. Rebecca DeLong (Clear Lake) 73-75-148, 3. Meghan DeLong (Clear Lake) 84-70-154, 4. Kaylie Kelchen (Lisbon) 80-77-157, 5. Kaylin Long (Washington) 78-79-157, 6. Meera Julka (Xavier) 81-79-160, 7. Maureen McDermott (Spencer) 85-76-161, 8. Brenna Bodensteiner (Waverly-Shell Rock) 80-81-161, 9. Ava Kalb (Dubuque Wahlert) 80-81-161, 10. Jaya West (Winterset) 83-81-164.

Nevada makes it 11 trips to state in a row for girls soccer

The Nevada girls soccer team knew it was in for a stiff challenge against Center Point-Urbana in the Class 1A Regional final at Cub Stadium in Nevada Thursday.

The No. 2 Cubs faced a 2022 state tournament qualifier with quality talent and experience Thursday. CPU, ranked No. 9 in 1A, played smart disciplined ball for 80 minutes and limited Nevada's good looks at the goal.

But in the end Nevada found a way to break through against the Stormin' Pointers and score a 1-0 victory to punch its ticket to state for the 11th year in a row.

"I just like to keep up the legacy we have going for another year," Nevada sweeper Emma Strottman said. "It's really exciting for our team."

Nevada dominated possession of the ball for much of the game. But the Cubs were unable to get on the board in the first half and CPU continued to hold its ground defensively for the first 13 minutes of the second half.

But Nevada's relentless pressure on offense finally got the Stormin' Pointer defense to crack at the 53-minute mark.

The Cubs got a good run and Rachel Borwick sent a great cross. CPU keeper Emersen Fleming managed to deflect the ball, but Nevada forward Melanie Khounsourath was there to head the ball in off the deflection.

"I saw right away when the goalie tipped it that I was going to use my head," Khounsourath said. "Anything to get that ball in the goal."

Khounsourath said the Cubs managed to catch CPU off guard on the play.

"I don't think they were ready for my header at all," Khounsourath said. "They were all pressuring Kaleigh (Groat) because she was near the goal, so I was open by myself."

Due to the Cubs' ability to possess the ball for long stretches, their defense was not pressed much during the game. But the back four did not have the night off as they had to constantly come up and help the midfield forwards against a packed-in Stormin' Pointer defense."

"We tried to spread out the field by swinging it a few times, but they were fast and pressured us right away," Strotman said. "It was hard to get off right away. But it ended up working out for us."

The tough match-up was similar to what Nevada will face at state next week.

"When we saw the draw we didn't like it because we knew CPU was a fairly decent team and they got here and gave us a great match," Nevada coach Randy Davis said. "Hopefully that gets us warmed up to state."

CPU ended its season with a 12-3 record. Nevada picked up its fifth win in a row heading into yet another state tournament.

"Everybody is good there," Davis said. "A lot of games when you get there are 1-0. We've got to just keep playing and take our chances."

Nevada takes a 14-3 record into the 1A state quarterfinals at the Cownie Soccer Complex in Des Moines.

The Cub girls blanked Solon by a 3-0 margin May 23 during the 1A regional semifinal game at Cub Stadium. Avery Anderson scored 2 goals, Isabelle Nelson dished out two assists, Kaleigh Groat netted 1 goal and Tori Meinecke dished out an assist in the win.

Cubs cruise in 2A boys substate soccer

The Nevada boys soccer team easily made its way to the state tournament with shutout victories over Oskaloosa and Knoxville.

The Cubs downed Oskaloosa by a 6-0 score in the 2A Substate 6 semifinals May 23. Drew Robinson scored 3 goals, Owen Freeman 2 and Connor King 1.

Kent Sponseller handed out three assists and Gavin Egeland, Aidan Freeman and Edgar Cabrera each dished out one against Oskaloosa. Cub keeper Noah Mills made four saves.

In the Substate 6 final Nevada went up 1-0 at the half then scored 3 goals over the final 40 minutes to blow the game open.

Robinson scored 2 goals, Cabrera had 1 goal and assist apiece and Aidan Freeman, Sponseller and Carson Rhodes each distributed an assist against Knoxville. Mills made one save at keeper.

The Nevada boys took a 15-4 record into the state tournament.

Nevada baseball team has up-and-down week

Last week was a roller coaster ride for the Nevada baseball team.

The Cubs started off with the heartbreaking loss to PCM. They saw a 3-0 lead evaporate in that game.

Drake Hinson doubled and drove in two runs, Carson Rhodes was 1-for-3 with an RBI, Anthony hit a double, Karter Beving was 1-for-3 with a run, Jackson Burlage went 2-for-4, Colton Leslie and Sam Hanson both singled once and Dawson Lemke and Clay Franzen each scored a run against the Mustangs. Hinson took the loss after giving up one run and one hit in an inning of work.

Nevada responded to the loss by crushing Roland-Story at home two days later. The Cubs broke the game open with a six-run third inning then added three more runs in the fourth.

The game ended after five innings due to the 10-run mercy rule.

Colyn Groat homered and drove in four runs, Beving was 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI, Colton Leslie was 1-for-3 with two RBIs, Hinson finished 2-for-2 with a run and an RBI, Eaton went 2-for-3 with a double and Burlage ended up 1-for-1 with two runs and a walk against the Norsemen. Beving fired a one-hit shutout with seven strikeouts and one walk going all five innings as the winning pitcher.

Nevada ended the week with another heartbreaking loss. The Cubs rallied from a 4-1 deficit to tie West Marshall in the fifth inning only to give up seven unanswered runs over the final two frames.

Eaton doubled twice and drove in a run, Hinson doubled and picked up an RBI, Burlage knocked in a run and Rhodes and Groat were both 1-for-3 with a run. Burlage took the loss against the Trojans after allowing six earned runs on five hits and one walk with two strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings.

Royal baseball team loses heartbreaker to Collins-Maxwell

The Colo-NESCO baseball team was unable to find enough offense to overcome an early 2-0 deficit during its loss to Collins-Maxwell.

Lucas Frohwein tripled and drove in a run, Isaac Harrington singled and picked up an RBI and Breckin Clatt and Trenton Beard both singled and scored once in the loss. Spencer Hansen gave up three earned runs on four hits and six walks with five strikeouts in five innings as the losing pitcher.

In the loss to Madrid, the Royals were done in by a 10-run Tiger fifth inning that ended the game on account of the mercy rule.

Clatt was 1-for-3 with a run and two RBIs, Harrington doubled once and Beard drove in a run. Hansen, Frohwein and Drew Banks each walked and scored once and Landon Gjerde crossed home plate once. Beard took the loss after giving up two earned runs on one hit and five walks with one strikeout in 3 1/3 innings.

Colo-NESCO was again hurt by a poor finish against Baxter.

The Royals led 3-2 going into the sixth inning only to give up eight runs in the inning and three more in the top of the seventh. Banks gave up five earned runs on three hits and walks apiece with five strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings as the losing pitcher.

Harrington was 1-for-3 with an RBI and a steal and Beard 2-for-2 with a double and a run against the Tigers. Frohwein doubled, walked and scored once and Gannon Short went 1-for-2 with an RBI.

Colo-NESCO softball team tops Baxter for first victory

After dropping its first two games the Colo-NESCO softball team picked up a needed victory over Baxter Friday at McCallsburg.

The Royals built a 5-3 lead over the Bolts after five innings then plated four runs in the sixth to wrap up the victory. Annabelle Nessa was the winning pitcher after allowing two earned runs on three hits with four strikeouts and no walks in 2 2/3 innings.

Riley Handsaker was 2-for-4 with two RBIs for Colo-NESCO offensively against Baxter. Callie Kohlwes went 2-for-3 with a double and two runs and Molly Angell finished 1-for-4 with one run and RBI apiece.

Colo-NESCO fell behind 6-0 and could not recover in its opening loss to BCLUW May 22.

Angell went 3-for-4 with a run, Catherine Rouse and Cassidi Bartmess each scored once, Cassidy Muschick was 1-for-2 with an RBI, Kohlwes and Handsaker each drove in a run and Rylee Upchurch and Jasmine Johannes each picked up a hit against the Comets. Kohlwes was the losing pitcher after surrendering one earned run on four hits and five walks with five strikeouts in three innings.

The Royals only got two hits off Collins-Maxwell All-State ace Erica Houge in their loss to the Spartans.

Angell and Katie Spalding both singled once and Abigail Hostetler drew a walk for Colo-NESCO. Nessa took the loss after allowing three earned runs on six hits with five strikeouts and one walk in three innings.

Colo-NESCO also struggled at the plate during its loss to Wapello at the Williamsburg Tournament Saturday.

The Royals were once again held to two hits, with Hostetler and Nessa each picking up a single off Wapello pitcher Aday Boysen, who finished the game with an incredible 18 strikeouts. Nessa drove in Elizabeth Erickson with Colo-NESCO's only run in the fifth inning.

Nessa took the loss against Wapello after allowing two earned runs on six hits and a walk with five strikeouts in six innings.

The Royals were hurt by a rough pair of innings in their loss to English Valleys during the Williamsburg Tournament. They gave up four runs in the third and six in the fourth.

Kohlwes allowed six earned runs on 10 hits with three strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings as the losing pitcher. Nessa went 1-for-3 with three RBIs, Kohlwes was 1-for-3 with one run and RBI apiece and Hostetler, Muschick and Cerra Muntz each chipped in a single versus English Valleys.

This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Nevada soccer teams qualify for state, girls golf takes 8th in 3A