Boys’ Lacrosse

Nighthawks Proving Themselves With Lots Of Lopsided Wins

By Andy Hutchison

Members of the Newtown High School boys’ lacrosse team set out to prove themselves a year after an injury-plagued campaign ended sourly with the team missing the state playoffs.

The Nighthawks have a checklist of the teams they lost to last year — a little redemption-laden incentive to succeed.

So far so good.

The Nighthawks cruised into the middle of this week with an impressive 7-1 record. Even more impressive than the win-to-loss ratio is how the Hawks are coming out on top. In its seven wins, Newtown has outscored the opposition by a combined 105-23 margin (the approximate average score of those games: 15-3).

“I’m not surprised at their ability. I’m surprised about how quickly we’ve been able to step on teams and stay on them,” Head Coach Brian Micena said.

Last season, the Nighthawks defeated South-West Conference rival Notre Dame-Fairfield 8-6. This year, the Hawks won 16-1. Although the fact the Hawks have staved off severe injuries thus far, the difference is more than the fact the team is healthier, Micena said. He believes this year’s squad is playing that much better.

“They play unselfishly — they feed off each other,” Micena said.

The top attack players — Brendan Martin, Zack Varga, Christian Beitel, and Kevin Canavan — along with midfielder Will Mahony, have worked together to spark the success on offense. Martin and Varga have been key set-up players for the top three goal scorers through the first eight games: Canavan (26 goals and 2 assists), Beitel (23 and 13) and Mahony (22 and 8).

Max Beitel has played solidly in goal and midfielders Ben Mahony and Kyle O’Connor have aided the transition game, which has been a big factor in the offensive outbursts. The defensive effort sometimes gets overshadowed, but the attack players don’t let the back row go unnoticed.

“The key to our success on offense is probably our defense. Without the transition, we couldn’t get some of our goals,” Christian Beitel said.

What it comes down to is that a strong team effort combined with an overall desire to bounce back from last year’s struggles has led to success.

“I think they expected to do this, which is nice,” Micena said. “I think they have great chemistry.”

The Nighthawks lost to Joel Barlow and Branford a year ago. This spring, the Hawks have beaten both teams — and done so convincingly, besting Barlow 15-5 and Branford 15-7.

Newtown opened the season with an easy 16-1 win over Immaculate and after an 18-6 loss to Fairfield Prep, has reeled off six consecutive wins, the latest of which was that 16-1 drubbing of ND-Fairfield. Canavan and Christian Beitel both had six goals in the rout. Newtown had a 44-8 advantage in ground balls which, in part, led to a 49-8 shots on goal advantage. ND dropped to 4-4 this spring.

Still on that redemption list heading into the middle of this week were New Milford, Weston, Conard, and New Fairfield. Pending the weather, the Hawks are slated to have played all of those foes by May 8. Another tough test should come from Masuk, which Newtown is scheduled to visit on Monday.

“We have a tough schedule ahead of us. Hopefully we can keep pumping out the goals and keep the defense working hard,” Canavan said.