NHS Soccer, Volleyball And Field Hockey Teams Ready For SWC Tourney

By Andy Hutchison

The soccer, volleyball, and field hockey teams are all continuing on their winning ways. Below, a brief roundup of the teams’ activities.

Soccer Teams Finish Strong

The boys’ and girls’ soccer teams will begin state tournament competition beginning with quarterfinal round action this Friday. With victories in the opening round, the teams would play in semifinals on Tuesday (the conference championship is next Thursday).

The girls’ team improved to 13-1-1 with a 2-0 win over 6-6 Bunnell at Treadwell Park last Friday and a 2-0 win over 7-7 New Milford at home on Monday. In Friday’s win, Tania Domingos snapped a scoreless tie when her corner kick hooked toward the goal line and bounced into the net at 57:01. Goalkeeper Emily Kluga made a diving, lead-preserving save shortly thereafter and Newtown added an insurance goal when Domingos set up Lauren Meyer for a blast from straight on at 78:15. Kristen Tanner netted both goals in Monday’s win.

As much as the win-loss results would indicate it’s been easy for Newtown this fall, the fact is that the Nighthawks have had to work hard to earn their stance as the second-place SWC team behind Masuk. Coach Marc Kenney said opposing teams are adjusting to Newtown’s fast-moving offense and ability to get the ball into the goal area for scoring chances and that to counter that he alters the game plan slightly. With opponents clogging the box with defenders, Kenney has instructed his players to not add to the congestion and to spread out more, resulting in more open space.

“The team is outstanding at adapting to changes I make,” Kenney said. “I couldn’t be happier with how we’re playing.”

The Hawks were slated to conclude the regular season at home against Masuk on Wednesday (after The Bee Sports Section went to press). They will host a first-round SWC tourney game Friday.

The boys, after an up and down start to the campaign, are on a roll as the playoffs near. Newtown won five straight games heading into the regular season finale Monday at New Milford and closed out the slate with a 2-2 tie. Connor Collier had both goals in the tie. NHS, which beat Bethel, Weston, Joel Barlow, New Fairfield, and Bunnell down the stretch, carries a 9-4-2 record into postseason.

Spikers Hope To Gain From Loss

The girls’ volleyball team carried a 16-1 record into Wednesday’s season finale against Kolbe Cathedral (after The Bee Sports Section went to press). The Hawks, a year ago, won their first 20 games, including a pair of SWC tourney contests, before falling in the SWC finals and in their next match, in the second round of the state tourney (after a bye). This year, the girls are hoping to take something positive out of their first loss (a 3-1 setback to nonconference foe Griswold on October 14). Megan Casey is hopeful that since NHS rebounded from that defeat with regular-season wins that the team will be confident it can overcome setbacks.

“We didn’t know how to bounce back from it,” she said of last year’s back-to-back playoff losses.

As the season has unfolded, the wins have been piling up for the Hawks, but Coach Tom Czaplinski has continued to expect more improvement and still wants to see a little more intensity from his team. He scheduled the Griswold match late in the year as a tough nonleague test to help prepare his team for postseason.

“I feel like we’re really starting to come together and things are starting to fall into place,” Casey said.

If the regular-season success repeats itself, Newtown should be in good shape since the Hawks defeated all of their conference foes that stand between them and a championship.

“We’ve proven we can hang with any of them,” Czaplinski said.

Field Hockey Team Wins Close Games

The field hockey team beat nonleague foe Watertown 3-2 on October 16 and blanked New Milford 1-0 on Monday in a rematch of the September 11 game that ended in a 1-1 tie. NHS was scheduled to visit Pomperaug, the only SWC team to defeat the Hawks this fall, on Wednesday. Newtown will host a first-round SWC tourney game Friday and with a win would advance to the semifinals (to be held in Weston) on Tuesday.

The Nighthawks, led by a strong defense in front of goaltender Jessica Balsano, have allowed only ten goals in their first 14 games and have shut out eight teams this season. They reached the SWC finals last year.