NHS Boys’ Soccer—

Defeat In Penalty Kicks Ends Solid Year For Nighthawks

By Andy Hutchison

Penalty kicks — those are two words not popular with the Newtown High School boys’ soccer team.

The Nighthawks, after falling in penalty kicks in the conference tournament quarterfinals, saw their season end in penalty kicks in Monday night’s Class LL State Tournament first round game at Blue & Gold Stadium.

After outplaying No. 19 Pomperaug for the better part of a scoreless regulation and two 10-minute overtimes, the No. 14 Hawks fell 1-0 (4-2 in kicks).

The season ended in frustrating fashion for the Hawks who rebounded from a slew of pre- and early-season injuries to battle through an up-and-down start and post an impressive 5-0-1 mark in the final weeks of the season to finish 9-4-2.

Newtown kept the ball on the visiting Panthers’ end of the field for a majority of the second half behind the efforts of senior captains Andrew Meisel and Chris Marks, seniors Andrew Domingos, Connor Collier, and Ryan Goodridge, junior captain Evan Kennedy, and juniors Adam Buccino and Matt Slattery. Kennedy set up multiple chances with strong throw-ins and Meisel’s corner kicks also gave the Nighthawks threats in the 18-yard box, but Pomperaug goalkeeper Brian Schaake made 13 saves en route to the shootout.

His counterpart, Steven Musco, made five saves and got a little help from a great defensive effort by junior Sam Hogland late in the game. Hogland made a sliding play to kick the ball away from a Pomperaug forward who was closing in on the goal. In the second overtime, Newtown may have caught a break when a Pomperaug player seemed to be pulled down in the box. The visiting fans complained and the home crowd members held their breath hoping a penalty shot would not be awarded. It wasn’t, but penalty shots have had a way of finding — and haunting — the Hawks lately.

Last year, Pomperaug fell in the South-West Conference and state tourneys, each time on penalty kicks. Newtown had the same fate this year and the Hawks hope to have the same turnaround next fall.

As was the case in the SWC tourney, Newtown sophomore RJ Roman stepped in to face penalty kicks but the keeper, who made some clutch saves to force three rounds of kicks against Joel Barlow in last week’s game, couldn’t solve the Pomperaug shooters.

Schaake dove to stop a shot by Domingos on the first kick and Meisel clanked a blast off the post to Schaake’s right on Newtown’s second try. Pomperaug scored on its first two kicks of the best-of-five round. Hoagland and sophomore Josh Engler scored in the third and fourth rounds to give Newtown life, but their net-finders were answered by the Panthers, sparking a celebration on Newtown’s field.

The Hawks showed plenty of mettle this year. They overcame the obstacles of starting the season without their would-be starting goalkeeper (Connor Collier sustained a broken hand and joined the team as a forward a few weeks into the season) and a top-scorer (Domingos). They lost 1-0 to Pomperaug in the regular season and tied and beat eventual SWC champ Barlow in a pair of regular season clashes.