By Kim J. Harmon

REDDING – Although these are the moments when doubts and uncertainties find a way of creeping in, the Newtown High School boys’ soccer team was calm, resolute, and took care of business in its South-West Conference championship battle with Joel Barlow last Friday.

“We came in with complete confidence,” said striker Marcus Tracy, who scored two goals in a 3-1 win over the Falcons. “We knew we had to work hard and play soccer and we did that. I think we played real well.”

The 18-1 Nighthawks – ranked first in the state and eighth in the nation – defeated Joel Barlow back on October 27 to earn the No. 1 seed and then promptly dispatched Weston (4-0) and Masuk (3-1) to earn a fourth-consecutive trip to the SWC championship.

And the ‘Hawks made up for the loss to Masuk in the 2003 final with a dominating performance last Friday.

With 22:27 left in the first half, Rodrigo DeSouza drilled a free kick off the hands of Barlow goaltender Eric Cushman, but Tony Magliocco – the transfer from Brookfield – was quick to the rebound and nailed down an easy goal.

And just over a minute later, DeSouza used some fancy footwork to slip a ball past the charging goaltender. Tracy – who needed to leap over Cushman – gathered the ball in at the right post and tapped in an empty-netter to stake the ‘Hawks to a 2-0 advantage.

“How many times can you say this kid is special, dynamic?” said head coach Brian Neumeyer. “People should just come out and see him play. But we are fortunate to have some very, very good soccer players in the program playing with him.”

Only 31 seconds later, the Falcons cut the lead in half with a penalty kick. But with 3:07 left in the half, the ‘Hawks regained the two-goal advantage when Tracy out-raced two Barlow defenders to a free ball in the box and scored his second goal of the game.

“After we got that two goal lead we knew we would have to sit back,” said co-captain Nick Mentesana. “It’s that typical-Newtown-Barlow rivalry and we knew they would came at us.”

But the Falcons could never get a decent push through the midfielders or the sweepers – not with Mentesana, Brian Miles, Marc Doherty, Ben Tirigall, and Alex Meisel playing so well. And even when the Falcons managed a shot on goal (they had just seven of those in the game), goaltender Adam Drummond gathered them in well.

“(Adam) really did a nice job (in this wind),” said coach Neumeyer. “A couple of balls got floated in the box and he played them well.”

Once the final horn sounded, the ‘Hawks rushed out and celebrated their accomplishment – but it was a somewhat subdued celebration because they knew there was still more to accomplish in the 2004 season.

“It definitely feels nice to win this. We worked hard for it,” said Tracy. “But we want to go on and win a state championship.”

Coach Neumeyer had that in his mind from the first day of practice and added, “The SWC title is very important, very special to us. But we’re not disguising what we want to do – we want to win a state championship.”

That journey began on Monday and if successful, it will end on November 19th or 20th.

                                                            1                 2              T

Joel Barlow Falcons                           1                 0            - 1

Newtown Nighthawks                       3                 0            - 3

GOALS: 1. N, Tony Magliocco (Rodrigo DeSouza), 17:33. 2. N, Marcus Tracy (DeSouza), 18:50. 3. B, Kevin Hamill (penalty kick), 20:21. 4. N, Tracy (Ben Tirigall), 37:53. SHOTS: Newtown 11, Barlow 7. SAVES: Eric Cushman (B) 2, Adam Drummond (N) 2. CORNER KICKS: Barlow 3, Newtown 5.