NHS Lacrosse Teams Are Knocked Out Of States

By Andy Hutchison

Coming off conference championship highs, Newtown High School’s girls’ and boys’ lacrosse teams both experienced the low of their season, ending in state tournament defeats this week.

The girls defeated Brookfield for the third time this year, winning in another battle of the South-West Conference foes in the first round of Division I action, then fell in the second round to Glastonbury on Monday. The boys won an overtime thriller over Staples of Westport in the first round of the Class L bracket, then lost to Simsbury in the second round on Tuesday.

The girls’ team, seeded fifth in its bracket, toppled No. 12 Brookfield 18-9 on June 6. Just as they did in the SWC championship clash a few days earlier, the Nighthawks jumped out to an early lead. But Brookfield, which had battled back to take a late first-half lead in that conference final, couldn’t get within striking distance as NHS pulled away in the state tourney game.

Betsy Vendel and Lisa Vendel ecch netted five goals and added three assists, Meghan Bridges scored four goals and added a pair of assists, and Kaitlin Brophy had two goals and two assists in the win.

Then came yet another rematch. Newtown traveled to fourth-seeded Glastonbury to take on a team that defeated the Hawks in overtime during the regular campaign. This time it wasn’t nearly as close. Glastonbury doubled up NHS 20-10 to end Newtown’s season.

“I think it was a matter of them having a really good day and us having a really bad day,” Newtown Coach Maura Fletcher said.

Her Hawks had an uncharacteristic number of unforced turnovers and took only 15 shots, roughly half of the team’s average.

Brophy had four goals and Lisa Vendel led the defensive effort, but it wasn’t enough.

Fletcher said she would like for the team to have an opportunity to play more out-of-conference games so that she can line up tougher opponents in an effort to prepare for these tough playoff matchups. Under the current system, the team plays roughly ten in-conference games, which Fletcher says are not challenging for her team. The proof is in the numbers. Newtown has made it a habit of rolling over almost all of its SWC counterparts, often by double-digit margins.

Boys Win Thriller, Then Fall

The boys didn’t have such an easy time in the first round as the girls did. NHS, the second seed, had all it could handle with a deceptive 15th seed, Staples out of the FCIAC, in Class L play.

Newtown nipped Staples 9-8 in overtime on June 6. The visiting Wreckers came back from a 5-2 deficit to take a pair of second-half leads before Newtown’s Christian Beitel cut through the goal mouth area, took a feed from Jacob Dauz and flipped a tricky and hair-raising shot over his shoulder and into the net. That goal knotted the score at 8 apiece with just 2:36 to play.

Goaltender Clarence Cheung made a couple of crucial late saves to preserve the tie and force OT.

“I don’t feel pressure. I just play my game,” said Cheung, crediting his defenders for forcing the shots to come from the outside.

In OT, Beitel took a pass from Jaime Vavrek and scored the winner 1:50 into the first four-minute overtime.

“It’s definitely a relief. You’re just thinking, you don’t want to lose,” Beitel said of his late-game heroics.

But against No. 7 Simsbury in the next round Newtown did finally lose. The Nighthawks found themselves down 8-6 heading into the fourth quarter — a familiar situation as the Hawks were in that spot against New Fairfield in the SWC finale. But Simsbury proved to be too tough, at least this time around. Simsbury pulled away in the fourth quarter and held of the Hawks despite a hat-trick by Brian Reszoly and a pair of goals each from Vavrek and Beitel.

“After we’ve come back so many times … we’re pretty comfortable in this spot, being behind. It doesn’t faze us too much,” NHS Coach Brian Micena said. “Time ran out on us, but I can’t be more proud of a group. They definitely brought our program to a new level; so I’m very pleased with that. They should be proud.”