Girls’ Squad Remains Unbeaten

By Andy Hutchison

Newtown High School’s girls’ soccer team, following a season-opening tie with Pomperaug of Southbury, rolled through the competition — beating five teams by a cumulative 30-2 margin. Talk about domination. Then came this past Tuesday’s clash with always-tough Masuk of Monroe at Blue & Gold Stadium.

Sure, the Nighthawks were undefeated and Masuk carried a 3-2 record into the game, but as Newtown Coach Marc Kenney points out, records mean nothing when these teams battle. The Nighthawks got a late goal by Maddy Keane that broke a scoreless tie and sent the Hawks on their way to a 1-0 victory.

Newtown improved to 6-0-1 and Masuk fell to 3-3.

“Anytime that you play Masuk you just throw the records out the window. Typical game — I mean it was intense, it was a hard game, it was physical, and both teams played well. Masuk’s a good team, as they always are,” Kenney said.

Since that Pomperaug game, “this was our first real test,” Kenney noted. “I think we responded well.”

Kenney was pleased with his team’s defensive efforts, as always. Newtown goalkeeper Cait Yakush made nine saves to give the Hawks a chance to win. The defense and goalkeeping have surrendered just three net-finders in seven games to begin the campaign. Although Masuk held Newtown’s offense in check for most of the evening, the coach was impressed by the chances his forwards created.

Finally, with about ten minutes to play, Newtown got on the board. Keane scored on a free kick from about 35 yards out, moving up from her defensive position to take the shot and show off her strong kick.

“When she was a sophomore or junior she’d knock that ball into the trees, but now she’s really sort of been able to corral that shot and she does an excellent job on it,” Kenney said. “She’s a weapon for us obviously everywhere on the field — especially on the offensive third when she has a chance to score goals.”

“It feels great,” Keane said. “We always consider them to be one of our toughest competitors — it felt great to score that goal.”

Newtown junior Amy Martin noted that the goal was reminiscent of one she scored against Masuk, also a late-game winner on a long-range free kick, during her freshman year. “Maddy works hard. It’s nice to see her get one,” Martin said. “I’m proud of everyone. Everybody plays really well — really aggressively.”

The Nighthawks had beaten Stratford 7-0 on September 21, and blanked Notre Dame-Fairfield 6-0 three days later. The Masuk game, the Hawks believe, is the first of a string of several tough ones. Newtown hosts Weston this Saturday, October 1, for a 7 pm start at Blue & Gold Stadium, and visits rival Joel Barlow in Redding on Tuesday, October 4.

“I think the rest of the way for us, every game, is going to be tough,” Kenney said.