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By Kim J. Harmon

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By Kim J. Harmon

When the 2001 season got started a little over six weeks ago, the Newtown High School boys’ lacrosse team figured – and rightfully so, at the time – that it could be considered the favorite to win the first-ever South-West Conference championship.

What they figure, now, is considerably different.

Oh, the Nighthawks still like their chances of capturing that championship but they are certainly aware of the threat New Fairfield and Brookfield High Schools pose. The ‘Hawks are 4-2 in the SWC, but 0-2 against those two teams.

“I think the kids are really confident in what they can do,” said head coach Brian Micena. “They don’t think they played to their potential against Brookfield.”

True, the ‘Hawks lost to the Bobcats by just one goal, 8-7, in a performance that no one was happy about. In the 11-10 loss to the Rebels, the ‘Hawks played much better, but still felt they should have won the game.

“Against New Fairfield,” said coach Micena, “I think we played a pretty tough game.”

In the SWC playoffs which start next Tuesday, the ‘Hawks figure to have the No. 3 seed behind No. 1 New Fairfield and No. 2 Brookfield. So, the ‘Hawks will travel to Brookfield while New Fairfield hosts New Milford (which defeated Joel Barlow).

The winners will meet on Thursday, May 31, at New Milford High School.

The ‘Hawks had a few higher hopes for the 2001 season than a 7-7 record, but a win over Notre Dame will guarantee the ‘Hawks (who have already qualified for the CIAC Division II state tournament) a .500 record.

But a closer look reveals how deceptive that 7-7 record appears.

On www.laxpower.com, Newtown is ranked No. 6 in Division II with an 80.26 power rating. Ridgefield is first at 87.90, followed by Xavier of Middletown at 81.76, New Fairfield at 81.59, Fitch of Groton at 81.23, and Amity at 80.65. As of this writing, Newtown is ranked by laxpower.com at 693rd in the nation out of 1,600 teams.

Newtown is 6-4 in Division II and 1-3 in Division I, their one win – by a count of 13-11 – coming against arch-rival Staples of Westport (ranked No. 18 in Division I) back on May 4 at Newtown High School.

Although the SWC tournament is approaching, the ‘Hawks will have to finish up the regular season first and they still have games against Notre Dame and Norwalk (who defeated Brien McMahon) coming up.

STATISTICS

 

Players               G      A   PT

Casey Kirch             28      34     62

Matt Saunders         39      19     58

Tom Ryan                32      15     47

John Conlon            27        5     32

Matt Sullivan             7        1       8

John Oliver                6        0       6

Dan Maley                  4        2       6

Pete Yemc                  1        5       6

Matt Sodor                0        4       4

Ted Yemc                   1        1       2

Brian Hamilton          0        1       1

Pat Monahan              1        0       1

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