White Lightning Runner-Up In Labor Day Tourney

The Newtown White Lightning boys’ U12 travel soccer team went to Ridgefield for the Labor day Tournament and was runner-up in its division. The White Lightning went into the championship game undefeated, outscoring opponents 14-3. In the Championship Stamford defeated The White Lightning 2-1. Here are the tournament highlights:

Newtown 4, Wilton 2: Carter Nordman scored a goal assisted by Ryan King. After Wilton tied the game, Jeremy Doski was assisted by Mike Cook for a 2-1 Newtown lead. King made a nice run up the right side and past two defenders to score the go-ahead goal in the second half. The final goal was scored on a blast by Doski over the outstretched hands of the Wilton goalie. The defense was lead by Knute Johnson and Kevin Droniak.

Newtown 6, Darien 0: In a dominating performance, Newtown controlled play the entire game and came together as a team with pinpoint passing. Goalkeeper Pete Manfredonia collected his first shutout. Cook started off the scoring on goal assisted by Doski. King followed that with a goal set up by Michael Biancardi. Patrick Rowley assisted Cook’s second goal to close out the first-half scoring. In the second half, Sawyer Conrad passed to Cook for another goal to complete. Jeremy Doski was assisted by Will Swain and Droniak finished the scoring by putting the ball into the net after a feed from King. Johnson played well on defense and Daniel Hamula and Raymond Xue were standouts in the midfield.

Newtown 4, Ridgefield 1: Doski and Cook scored two goals a piece to lead the White Lightning. Nathyn Horvath had an assist on one of those goals and Doski and Cook assisted each other. Rowley, Carter Nordman, Xue and Biancardi played well at midfield and Conrad and Droniak were stellar on defense.

Stamford 2, Newtown 1 (championship): In a battle of undefeated teams, it was a close match throughout the entire game. Newtown trailed 1-0 until late in the second half when Johnson scored an unassisted goal to knot the score. Stamford came back and scored with only a few minutes left in the game. Newtown fought back and had a few opportunities but ran out of time. Horvath played well on defense, Will Swain and Hamula were strong at midfield and Manfredonia made several big saves in goal to keep it close.