Girls’ Soccer Team Hopes Chemistry Makes For Success This Fall

By Andy Hutchison

Newtown High School’s girls’ soccer team’s biggest strength, according to Coach Marc Kenney, is the cohesiveness the players have with one another.

“This group is probably the best group I’ve had in terms of their chemistry. We have no egos in this group. They’re completely here for each other — everyone has the same mission,” Kenney said.

Kenney attributes the cohesion, in large part, to the work of the captains who treat the younger players well.

“We’ve had better teams here, on paper, but we’ve never had a group that’s been as cohesive as this group,” he said.

The overall level of fitness among the Nighthawks is also a strong point. “They showed up to preseason incredibly fit,” Kenney said.

Newtown also has lots of depth. All 21 players are capable of playing and will push each other in practice as they vie for game action opportunities, Kenney said. That will result in competitive practices and, in turn, “the games become easy,” the coach said.

The Nighthawks, following an 8-3-4 mark, won their first Class LL State Tournament game before being eliminated by Shelton. The goals, as always, are to win South-West Conference and state championships. Newtown’s usual tough SWC rivals are Masuk of Monroe and Joel Barlow of Redding.

Kenney says an off the game field asset to the team is the assistant coaches, returnee Whitney Goodman and newcomer Joanna Diaz, whom the head coach says will play big roles with the varsity squad this fall.

Newtown’s senior captains are defender Ali Korchman, midfielders Sarah Attanasio and Lauren Meyer, and defender KellyAnne Brophy, the latter of whom is out for the year with an ACL injury sustained in preseason. Brophy, despite the injury, has been attending practices to support and encourage her teammates.

Among other returning players whom Kenney will look for on-field leadership is junior center back Maddy Keane, a 5-foot-10 presence on the back line. Keane, Kenney says, is among the best, if not the best, defender in the conference. The All-SWC selection as a sophomore is even better than she was a year ago, he added.

Forward Brittany Tolla and midfielder Amy Martin, sophomores and All-SWC Second Team honorees a year ago, are potential goal-scoring leaders for the Hawks, the coach said.

The competitive nature of this team extends up and down the field at all positions. Not only are forwards, midfielders, and defenders competing for playing time, but the goalkeepers are too. In goal, senior Casey Rutter and sophomore Caitlin Yakush will challenge each other for time protecting the nets.

So far so good for the Nighthawks. They opened the season with a 5-1 win over Oxford on September 14.