Dethroning The Best To Become The Best—

Boys’ Lacrosse Team Uses Comeback Effort To Edge Rebels

By Andy Hutchison

SOUTHBURY — The second-seeded Newtown High School boys’ lacrosse team shocked the defending South-West Conference champion and top-seeded New Fairfield Rebels — a team that had not lost in a stretch of more than 40 games during nearly two years — 9-8 in a thrilling South-West Conference championship game at Pomperaug High School on Tuesday evening.

Kyle McNamara, who earned tourney MVP honors, scooped up a loose ball, sprinted up field and hit a streaking Kevin Canavan with a pass over the middle, setting Canavan up for the eventual winning tally with 4:07 remaining. Canavan netted six goals and McNamara did a nice job to shadow New Fairfield’s standout player Andrew Fiamengo, holding the state’s top assist-getter to no assists and just one goal.

Newtown goaltender Clarence Cheung made a pair of point-blank saves, among his 15 stops, in the final minutes, and the Nighthawks got control with 1:40 remaining and protected the ball the rest of the way to seal the win.

Christian Beitel, who netted seven goals in the semifinal round, had a pair of tallies and assisted two others in the championship game. Jaime Vavrek also scored as Newtown won its first conference crown since 2003.

Jacob Dauz and Kyle O’Conner both scooped nine ground balls. Dauz was a big difference-maker in his efforts on face-offs, winning 12 of his 15 draws.

“It feels great,” said Dauz, whose team lost to New Fairfield in last spring’s championship clash. “That feeling haunted me all last year. To come back and win it against the same team we played — and end their winning streak — feels great.”

“It feels absolutely amazing. They’re a great team,” McNamara said. “I’ve never been so tired after playing a team before.”

Down 8-6 heading to the fourth quarter of play, the Nighthawks were right where it wanted to be. Okay … so maybe the Hawks would have preferred to carry a lead into the final 12 minutes, but that two-goal deficit was nothing compared to what the Nighthawks overcame to get to the championship tilt. Newtown fell behind 8-0 to No. 3 New Milford in the May 29 semifinal game. NHS closed to within 10-7 at halftime of that game and completed the comeback for a 15-14 thriller.

Beitel had seven goals and three assists to lead the comeback. He hit the post on a first-half shot and the ball soon thereafter made its way toward the sideline and was headed out of bounds. Beitel dove to save a ball for Newtown, got to his feet, took a pass from Vavrek and fired a shot into the net. The senior said it is a great feeling seeing the ball go into the opponent’s net no matter who puts in there. The team took a one-goal-at-a-time approach to digging itself out of that hole.

In the championship game, Newtown Coach Brian Micena said the team was never worried about the score. “I didn’t see any panicking … There was no tightness,” he said. The coach attributes his team’s composure to the fact it is a veteran squad with 11 seniors.

Micena pointed to strong defensive play and selfless work on offense in the transition game as keys to the comeback effort in the title game.

Newtown, in addition to winning the championship, earned the tourney’s sportsmanship award. The accolades keep rolling in. Micena has been recognized, through the voting of competing coaches, as the US Lacrosse Coach of the Year and the Class L Coach of the Year.

The Nighthawks still have one more accolade they would like to scoop … a state title. The quest begins Saturday at home against the winner of FCIAC rivals Staples of Westport and Stamford. Newtown is the tourney’s No. 2 seed.