Newtown High School, Joel Barlow Work Overtime — Lots Of It — In SWC Tournament

By Andy Hutchison

The games just wouldn’t end last Friday.

First, it was the Newtown and Joel Barlow high school field hockey squads who needed not one, not two … not even three overtimes before settling things (Newtown finally won in a round of penalty strokes). Then it was the Newtown and Barlow boys’ soccer teams who played double overtime followed by three sets of best-of-five shootouts before Barlow prevailed.

Two games, five overtimes, 190 minutes of scoreless game action … and a grand total of 37 combined tension-creating penalty strokes and kicks.

In the end, there were four worn out teams (and coaches … and officials) and two teams that thought they might never play. The Newtown and New Milford girls’ soccer teams had to wait until nearly an hour after their scheduled start time to kick off in the final game of a thrilling South-West Conference Tournament quarterfinal round triple-header that lasted about seven hours at Newtown’s Blue & Gold Stadium. The girls’ soccer team won and advanced to play in the SWC semifinals on Tuesday (see related story).

Field Hockey Prevails

After dominating most of the 60 minutes of regulation and 30 minutes of OT (three 10-minute stanzas), only to be held scoreless by Barlow, No. 2 Newtown outscored the No. 7 Falcons 4-2 in strokes and officially won 1-0. This game was destined to never end; even when the game was over it continued. Newtown held a 4-1 advantage after three-and-a-half rounds of penalty stroke goals and celebrated the win as Barlow players, fighting disbelief, covered their faces with their hands. Mathematically, the Falcons could not come back, but officials ruled that the teams had to play out the round of five (no such unnecessary continuation was required in the ensuing soccer game’s penalty kicks). The visiting Falcon field hockey players relived the agony of defeat while the Nighthawks had an encore celebration when this game was officially put in the books.

NHS goalie Jessica Balsano needed to make only one save through regulation and triple overtime while her counterpart, Amanda Macchio, kicked aside 15 shots during game play. Balsano showed no signs of rust in penalty strokes, leaping to make a save in the first round after Linda Magliocco spotted her a 1-0 lead with a goal on shot up under the crossbar. Alyssa Robinson buried a shot into the lower corner for a 2-0 lead and Balsano made a kick save to give NHS a 2-0 lead through two rounds. Jackie Isabella netted a goal in the third round to make it 3-0 Newtown. Leading 3-1, Taylor Barry lifted a high shot to seal the win.

“I was pretty confident, but it’s so nerve-wracking,” Balsano said. “It’s not like anything you do in a game.”

Especially so for a goalie who faces so few shots most of the time. But penalty strokes are something the team works on a lot in practice, Balsano notes, and it paid off.

Balsano did have to make a season-high ten saves in an October 22 scoreless deadlock with the tourney’s top-seeded Pomperaug Panthers.

“I think it was good for her to have such a good game coming into this,” NHS Coach Amanda Hadgraft said.

“The Pomperaug game was huge,” added senior captain Alyssa Carey.

Pomperaug was the only SWC foe to knock off the Nighthawks in the regular season. The two teams both won their semifinal round games on Tuesday, setting up a rematch in Thursday’s championship (after The Bee went to press). “It’s our turn to win,” Carey said.

Regardless of the outcome, Newtown’s season will continue in the state playoffs, beginning this coming week.

The Nighthawks should be well-prepared for competitive games by now. They knocked off New Milford 1-0 in a late-season clash and, of course, there was the Barlow game. On paper, this No. 2 versus No. 7 match-up easily favored Newtown, but Barlow nearly won the game. Actually, Newtown had some golden opportunities, including an overtime shot by Izzy Gleason that hit the post. There were several scrambles in front of the Barlow net, but the Hawks could not finish off scoring chances on this day. The quarterfinal round game was a reminder to Newtown that every team can present a challenge in the playoffs.

“It definitely shows us what to expect — that we have to push,” Carey said. “Everybody’s playing with their heart now.”

Boys’ Soccer Falls

The Nighthawks’ booters, much like the field hockey team, had the better of the chances in regulation and overtime against Barlow. Newtown, the tourney’s No. 4 seed, could not get a shot past No. 5 Barlow keeper Cody Hickok despite a 17-7 shots advantage and a 5-2 edge in corner kicks through 80 minutes of scoreless regulation and 20 minutes of OT. In the second 10-minute OT, the Nighthawks had several in-close chances but Hickok made back-to-back saves, including a diving stop, to force penalty kicks.

Starting keeper senior Steven Musco made several big saves of his own but was pulled in place of sophomore RJ Roman, a late-season call-up from junior varsity, for penalty kicks.

Senior Connor Collier (the former keeper who played forward while his broken hand recovers), tried to talk his way into the penalty kick action but head coach Brian Neumeyer was not about to let his player reinjure himself and had a hunch Roman was the player for the job. Roman made diving saves on consecutive shots and Newtown built a seemingly commanding 2-0 lead through the first two rounds on goals by Sam Hogland and Andrew Meisel. But Hickok turned the tables in rounds three and four with two diving saves of his own (and a goal of his own as the keeper doubled as a shooter during Barlow’s turn in round three).

Both teams scored in the fifth round with Newtown’s Jeff DiNicola making a crucial shot to send the kicks into a second batch of five. This time, NHS fought back. Down 3-1 (Newtown’s Andrew Domingos scored in the first round of the second set), the Nighthawks had goals from Spencer Scott and Collier to tie the score. Down 4-3 and with their backs up against a wall once again, Newtown got the goal it needed to push the kicks into a third set. Ryan Goodridge netted the crucial net-finder this time. In the third set of kicks, DiNicola had Newtown’s only goal and Barlow won 4-1 after three-and-a-half rounds. All in all, Barlow outscored Newtown 11-8. The Falcons went on to win their semifinal round game — winning on penalty kicks once again.

“We should have won it in regulation. We’re going to come out hard in states,” NHS captain Chris Marks said.

The Nighthawks put together an impressive second half run to finish the regular season without a loss in the last six contests. Newtown went 9-4-2 overall.