By Kim J. Harmon

A

 whole new coaching staff, a whole new league, a whole new look and a whole new direction – yes, the Newtown High School boys’ lacrosse team will be seeing a total makeover in 2001 under new coach Brian Micena.

The Nighthawks sort of stumbled through the last couple of seasons under coach Scott Stampp in 1999 and coaches Jason Hiruo and Brian Henricksen in 2000 and a combined record of 15-20 over that time probably did little to adequately reflect the type of talent the ‘Hawks had.

Coach Micena hopes to change all of that.

And it starts with getting everyone involved.

“Our offense will be very different this year,” said coach Micena. “Last year only one or two players handled the scoring, but this year a lot of kids will get involved.”

Last year, the ‘Hawks were led primarily by Sean Raby (41 goals, 16 assists) and John Conlon (26 goals, 8 assists), but with Raby having graduated and Conlon ineligible the ‘Hawks have lost a good third of the offense that guided them into the CIAC Division II state tournament.

Middie Matt Saunders (a co-captain along with Peter Yemc) is the leading returning scorer with 20 goals. Ayyackman Bryan Hamilton, who scored 16 goals and dished off 17 assists, is also back but right now is on the shelf with strained ligament in his knee. So sophomore Casey Kirch (10 goals, 11 assists) will be pressed into service on the attack.

Yes, things will be a little rocky the first week or so of the season as coach Micena has to patch a team together in the wake of injuries, vacations, and other assorted other problems. But the outlook still remains bright.

“All of our seniors should be pretty strong contributors,” he said, “and the strongest part of our game should be in the midfield.”

Coach Micena will look to Saunders and Yemc to provide the leadership in the middle with Dan Maley and Kirch (“he’ll be one of our big go-to guys,” coach Micena said) getting a lot of looks. And the attack will feature Tom Ryan (one goal last year), Hamilton, and Matt Sullivan (6 goals, 8 assists).

Shawn Gleason, who allowed 74 goals a year ago while making 83 saves, will return in the cage while his first line of defense will largely be Drew Narcum, George Wurtz, Charlie Hill and Dan Mallen.

“We’re pretty young,” said coach Micena, “and we have a lot of young defensemen who are new to the game. Narcum is our top defender, but we have two sophomores and three freshmen back there and it could get tough.”

Coach Micena will be looking towards John Oliver, Ted Yemc and Matt Lynch for some contributions. Lynch, though, has nicked up collar bone and is going to be on the shelf for most of April.

So, when it comes to squaring off against teams like Fairfield, Glastonbury, Brien McMahon, Staples, Fitch and Norwalk, the Nighthawks will probably find the going pretty rough. But the formation of the South-West Conference will open new doors for the ‘Hawks.

“I think once we go into the league,” said coach Micena, “we should be pretty strong. We have a great shot (at an SWC title) and once we’re health we could do okay in the (Division II) tournament. But right now I’m just looking towards the first game.”

And that was the always tough Fairfield on Thursday.

But the ‘Hawks will face a brand new team in St. Bernard on Saturday and then open the SWC schedule on Tuesday at New Fairfield and about 15 games after that hope to be, at least, sitting on top of a conference championship.

SCHEDULE

 

Thursday, April 5 – versus Fairfield, 4 pm; Saturday, April 7 – versus St. Bernard, 5 pm; Tuesday, April 10 – at New Fairfield, 4 pm; Wednesday, April 11 – versus Glastonbury, 4 pm; Tuesday, April 17 – versus Brookfield, 7 pm; Friday, April 20 – at Danbury, 3:45 pm; Tuesday, April 24 – at Joel Barlow, 4 pm; Saturday, April 28 – at Brien McMahon, 7 pm.

Tuesday, May 1 – versus Fairfield Prep, 7 pm; Friday, May 4 – versus Staples, 4 pm; Saturday, May 5 – at Fitch, 4 pm; Monday, May 7 – at East Lyme, 4 pm; Saturday, May 12 – at New Milford, 1 pm; Monday, May 14 – versus Immaculate, 4 pm; Wednesday, May 23 – versus Notre Dame, 4 pm; Friday, May 25 – versus Norwalk, 3:30 pm.

Tuesday, May 29 – Division II semi-finals; Thursday, May 31 – Division II finals.