Remember that day: Friday, November 1, 2002? That was the night two South-West Conference championships were decided literally within minutes of each other and both of the banners – boys soccer and volleyball – now hang in the same gym.

… as the Newtown High School swim and boys soccer teams battled for their respective South-West Conference championships. Yes, the swimmers were undefeated (12-0) and the boys’ soccer team was the defending champion so Saturday certainly had the potential to be one of those special days.

Well …

The swim team came in second to Lauralton Hall (a school the Lady Nighthawks had beaten during the dual meet season) while the boys’ soccer team fell to Masuk (a school the Nighthawks had beaten during the regular season) and thus Saturday was not the day it could have been.

But it wasn’t bad.

One Lapse, One Goal,

No Championship

Okay, the Newtown High School boys’ soccer team has been without its No. 1 scorer and has been suffering from any number of bumps and bruises over the past couple of weeks. But the battered Nighthawks did rise to the occasion in back-to-back wins over Masuk and Pomperaug.

But the Nighthawks didn’t rise to the occasion last Saturday and a 1-0 loss to Masuk denied them their third consecutive SWC championship.

“I just don’t think we had it,” said head coach Brian Neumeyer. “We didn’t play well in the middle of the field and did a poor job of defending on their one goal. Our desire didn’t match theirs in this game.”

Marcus Tracy had been sitting on the bench for the better part of three weeks recovering from a strained MCL (medial collateral ligament) and deep bone bruise, but with the game stuck in a scoreless tie and the Nighthawks looking a little flat, he stepped on to the field with 18:46 left to play in the first half.

A large part of that was to give the ‘Hawks an emotional lift and possibly give the Panther defenders something to think about … but Tracy scarcely touched the ball and was on the opposite end of the field when Nick Esares of Masuk dribbled the ball through two defenders and scored the lone goal of the game with 4:48 left to play in the first half.

The Panthers took the impetus from that goal and nearly put another one to the back of the net before the close of the half. In the final 16 seconds, a corner kick led to a wild sequence in which the ball bounced over the hands of Newtown goaltender Andrew Fiscella and onto the foot of a Masuk forward who blasted a shot off the left post.

The ‘Hawks survived the final moments of the half, but couldn’t not rebound from the one-goal deficit.

With 27:40 left in the second half, the ‘Hawks had their best opportunity of the game off a Rodrigo DeSouza corner kick, but an ensuing header just went wide of the post. About 11 minutes later, a corner kick gave the ‘Hawks another solid opportunity and a couple free kicks at 15:45 and 11:51 gave the ‘Hawks some hope.

But it all went by the boards.

“We just couldn’t break them down,” said coach Neumeyer.

The loss dropped the Nighthawks to 14-2-1 and left them with five days to prepare for the CIAC Class LL state tournament. Seeded No. 5, the ‘Hawks earned a first-round bye and were set to play the winner of the Simsbury/Danbury match on Wednesday.

Swimmers Almost Perfect,

Finish Second At SWCs

Even though the Newtown High School swim team defeated Lauralton Hall during the dual meet season, head coach Mary Atkinson knew it would be a monumental challenge to do it again at the South-West Conference championships.

A challenge the Lady Nighthawks were unable to meet.

The Crusaders claimed another SWC title, overcoming an early 20-point deficit to record a 376.50-336.50 win over second-place Newtown and exact some measure of revenge for that dual meet loss they suffered at the hands of the ‘Hawks back in September.

“Even though we didn’t taper our kids for this meet,” said coach Atkinson, “the still swam really fast. Maybe if everyone swam phenomenal times (we could have won), but Lauralton is a strong team and there really wasn’t anything we could have done to change things.”

Pomperaug, Masuk and New Fairfield finished third, fourth and fifth at the championships – but a pretty distant third, fourth and fifth.

The ‘Hawks led by as much as 27 points early in the meet (and already had gotten a good boost from their divers – Kim Mayers and Tierney Carey – after those performances last Wednesday. But the Crusaders began whittling away at the lead and after Christina Bladek took first in the 100 freestyle the defending SWC champs grabbed the lead by 22 points.

A second-place finish by Dana Vernal in the 500 freestyle and a first-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay put the Crusaders in a very favorable position. Maricate Conlon did grab some points back with her third-place finish in the 100 backstroke, but it wasn’t enough.

Even with the meet out of reach, the ‘Hawks did grab some glory when their 400 freestyle relay team of Amy Robinson, Sally Tabler, Maggie Hemingway and Abby Atkinson captured first at 3:51.00 – just four-tenths of a second ahead of Lauralton Hall. Back in September, it was their first-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay that helped lift the ‘Hawks past the Crusaders.

“The last time we swam this event with them,” said coach Atkinson, “we both swam a 3:59 and (Hall) wanted that event. Eight seconds is a tremendous amount of time to drop and it was a great performance. I was very happy about that.”

Newtown sent 30 swimmers to the SWC meet, but Atkinson – a sophomore – was their top performer. She came in second in the 200 individual medley (2:18.40, just two seconds behind Alyssa Potter of New Fairfield), fourth in the 100 breaststroke and swam the anchor leg of the 400 free relay.

There were a couple of other fine finishes – Robinson took fourth in the 50 and 100 freestyles, Tabler took fourth in the 200 individual medley and Hemingway took fourth in the 200 freestyle and sixth in the 500 freestyle. Meanwhile, Carey was fifth and Mayers sixth in diving.

Other scoring finishes – Liz Gugino (seventh in the 200 freestyle), Carol Ann Smith (11th in the 200 individual medley), Sami Howe (13th in the 50 freestyle) and Margaret Randall (13th in the 100 breaststroke).

The CIAC Class L championships – which Cheshire, as usual, is expected to dominate – will begin this weekend with the trials at Cornerstone in West Hartford. The finals will follow on Wednesday, November 12, at Southern Connecticut State University (the diving, though, will be held Friday at Cheshire High School).