By Kim J. Harmon

BROOKFIELD – A little redemption, a little personal atonement – that was all the Newtown High School boys’ lacrosse team was looking for in the first round of the South-West Conference playoffs.

What it found, instead, was disappointment.

That’s because it was second-seeded Brookfield High School that took the first step towards the first-ever SWC championship on Tuesday afternoon by pinning a 10-8 loss on third-seeded Newtown down in Brookfield.

Oh yes, the Nighthawks had been hoping to redeem themselves for an 8-7 loss they suffered at the hands of the Bobcats back on April 26 – a loss they felt they had nobody to blame for but themselves – but redemption was in short supply.

Oh, it certainly was not a question of which team wanted it more – as if so often the case – but, rather, it was a question of which team scooped the ground balls, which team made the better passes, and which team was more unyielding on defense.

That team was Brookfield.

“The biggest thing was the groundballs,” said head coach Brian Micena, “but on defense we didn’t slide the way we were supposed to slide and on offense we never found a flow and didn’t execute the way we usually do.”

The first period was a struggle.

The Nighthawks took an early, 1-0 lead on a quick goal by Matt Sullivan (who netted a pass from Casey Kirch and, on his knees, sidearmed a shot into the cage) but the Bobcats soon answered with two goals of their own to grab a 2-1 lead. Kirch tied the score at 2-2 late in the first period when he scooped a rebound off his own shot and then went top shelf with a second attempt.

The ‘Cats, however, set the ‘Hawks back on their heels by scoring the first four goals of the second period to take a 6-2 lead. And it was the poor slides – the defensive shifts – that were to blame.

Tom Ryan halted the onslaught – momentarily – when he fired a shot from high up in the box off an assist from Kirch. Later, John Conlon added a goal of his own off an assist from Matt Saunders.

Brookfield, though, answered both of those goals with goals of its own and took an 8-4 lead into the halftime break.

“I have to give Brookfield credit,” said coach Micena, “because they had some pretty good matchups with us.”

There were only two goals scored in the third period – one by Newtown and one by Brookfield. Saunders scored for the ‘Hawks, taking a long pass from Sullivan and then revving up for a hard, low shot to the cage.

But the ‘Cats held the 9-5 advantage at the end of three.

But that’s when the ‘Hawks rallied. Sullivan suddenly found himself unguarded when his defender slipped and scored a quick goal to trim the Brookfield lead to three. Then Conlon – after juggling a pass from Kirch – helped the ‘Hawks trim that lead to just two with his second goal of the game.

The ‘Cats, though, halted that rally by taking the face off and quick-passing their way down the field for a shot and a goal.

Even though they put a lot of pressure on the cage after that, the ‘Hawks managed just one more goal – that on a Saunders shot that glanced off the goalie’s stick with about four minutes left in the game.

All too soon, it was over.

Now the ‘Hawks, 8-8 overall, will have to wait for the CIAC Division II playoffs which start on Saturday. The ‘Hawks will go into the tournament seeded No. 10 and will play at No. 7 Ridgefield (9-5) at 3 pm.

If the ‘Hawks win, they will travel to Groton on Monday to take on Fitch.

Smashing Notre Dame

The ‘Hawks closed out the regular season last week with a 20-1 win over Notre Dame in the pouring rain. The Lancers, one of the new teams in the SWC, have struggled throughout the season and last Wednesday was no different.

Saunders scored five goals and assisted on three others while Kirch scored three goals and assisted on three others to power the offense. Because of the rain, the game was played on the back field at Newtown High School, the first game to be played back there all year.

Also scoring for the ‘Hawks was Conlon (3), Ryan (2), Dan Maley (2), Kyle Kirch (2), Matt Lynch, Pete Yemc, and Matt Sullivan. Others recording assists were Conlon (2), Ryan, Sullivan, Yemc and John Oliver.

CIAC DIVISION II

 

Teams        W-L

  1. New Fairfield     13-3

  2. Fitch       11-3

  3. Stonington         11-3

  4. Amity      12-4

  5. East Lyme         9-4

  6. Brookfield          10-5

  7. Ridgefield 9-5

  8. Xavier     9-6

  9. Joel Barlow        6-5

10. Newtown        8-7

11. Branford   8-8

12. New Milford       8-8

13. Ledyard              5-7

The first round will be held on Saturday (all games at 3 pm), while the quarter-finals will be held Monday (all games at 5 pm). Semi-finals will be scheduled for June 7 (games at 3 and 5 pm at a site to be determined) with the finals to follow on June 9 at a site to be determined.

 

SCORING CHART

 

Players                 G    A   PT

Casey Kirch                31    38     69

Matt Saunders            44    22     66

Tom Ryan                   34    16     50

John Conlon               30      7     37

Matt Sullivan                8      2     10

Dan Maley                    6      2       8

Pete Yemc                     2      6       8

John Oliver                   6      1       7

Matt Sodor                   0      4       4

Ted Yemc                     1      1       2

Kyle Kirch                     2      0       2

Brian Hamilton             0      1       1

Pat Monahan                1      0       1

Matt Lynch                   1      0       1