By Steve Bigham

NEW FAIRFIELD – After a less-than-spectacular first four games, the Newtown High School boys’ soccer team was hoping to put forth its best effort of this young season Thursday night during its marquee matchup with Joel Barlow.

That game has been circled on the Nighthawks’ schedule since last October when they dropped a 3-2 decision to the Falcons in the South-West Conference semifinals.

At press time Thursday morning, Newtown sported a 3-0-1 record after enduring a scoreless tie at home against Brookfield last Thursday, winning a 3-1 decision at Immaculate in Danbury on Saturday and grinding out a 2-0 victory at New Fairfield on Monday.

Newtown’s home game with Stratford on Tuesday was postponed due to rain.

Coach Brian Neumeyer, who was out of town earlier this week due to a death in the family, is looking for Newtown to take its play to a new level the rest of the way. The weakest part of the schedule appears to be behind the locals. It only gets tougher from here.

“He’s expecting more from them,” noted Assistant Coach Al Taubert. “He’s expecting better decisions on the field and for them to be more individually assertive. He’s expecting more shots on goal.”

Newtown appeared lackluster late last week under the lights at Treadwell Park, barely managing to escape with a tie against an upstart Brookfield team. While it should have been a win, according to Neumeyer, it very well could have ended up as a loss. However, junior goaltender Matt Pachniuk’s huge second half save gave Newtown new life.

“He made one of the most spectacular saves I’ve ever seen in high school,” Taubert said. “The shot came from the top of the penalty box and he dove to his left into the upper left hand corner and knocked it away. That kept us in that game.”

Meanwhile, Newtown missed on several scoring opportunities, finally having to settle for the tie.

On Saturday, Newtown recorded its second win of the season with a 3-1 win over Immaculate in Danbury. Ian Walker, who has played well early on this season, scored the game’s first goal five minutes in. There was some discussion as to whether an Immaculate player accidentally knocked the ball into his own net, but Walker was credited with the score.

Brendan Cavanaugh made it 2-0 at the 38-minute mark on a gorgeous header that made its way passed the Immaculate goaltender. Rob Weiss was credited with the assist.

With 11 minutes remaining in the game, the Mustang’s Frank Genova made it interesting when he beat the Newtown defense to score. It was the first goal by an opponent given up by Pachniuk this season.

Cavanaugh finally iced the game with a goal late in the second half. Pachniuk recorded six saves in goal, including one at point blank range.

On Monday, Newtown won as Cavanaugh and Mike Troy scored second half goals.