Girls

U9

Tigers 5, Fairfield 0: Izzy Butler, Sienna Harper, Emma Magazu, Erin Phaneauf, and Catie Teixeira all contributed their foot to net one each, while Abby Stites and Emily Tressler were beasts on defense. Shannon Kelleher and Erin Phaneuf split goalkeeping duties and were perfect.

U10

Flying Wombats 1, The Lightning Strikes 0: Rosie Simms’ end-to-end play left her spent at the final whistle. Her link-up play with Gigi Marino, Hanna Sepp, and Natalene Sim created havoc in front of the opponent’s goal, with more than a dozen shots slipping wide of the posts. Kylie Giroux pressed hard midway through the first half, resulting in a penalty kick due to a handball in the six yard box. She converted her shot for the game’s only goal. Offensive pressure by the opponent’s was diffused with savvy marking by the likes of Emma DiNallo, Lauren Yoder, and Sanjana Vakacheria. The Lightning Strikes turned in another solid effort on the pitch led by the stellar offensive play of Meghan Chipman and Nicole Fisher. Both moved the ball well and passed consistently throughout the contest. The defensive unit was led by the combination of Holly Ankers and Gabriella Mogollon, who deflected multiple attacks by the opponent, specifically by keeping the ball to the outside of the Lightning Strike goal. Elizabeth Roggenbauer played a perfect half in net, deflecting multiple attacks utilizing catlike hand and foot skills that shut down a tide of offensive pressure.

Fairfield Blue Crush 2, Newtown Cobras 1: The Cobras suffered their first league defeat of the year in a game that they dominated for all of but five minutes. Unfortunately, that five minutes determined the game result. The Cobras played what seemed to be the entire game in the Blue Crush end of the field, putting well over a dozen shots on goal, led by Megan Riccardi, Becca Filiato, and Cameron Powers. However, The Cobras were quite unlucky as they hit posts, cross bars, and seemingly everything other than the back of the net. The Cobras did break through on a rifle shot from Katie Stan, who took a pretty cross from Julia Gerace and hammered it in off of a defender. The defensive efforts of Meghan Delp, Riley Burns, and Sophia Child kept the game in hand, while the midfield play of Elizabeth Cassetta, Emma Butler, and Cameron Powers pushed the ball forward where Elizabeth Teixeira and Piper Salva were creative at striker. The goaltending of Emma Butler and Cameron Powers was outstanding in this heartbreaker.

U11

Wolfpack: In a jam-packed soccer weekend, the Wolfpack played a State Cup game, and three tournament games in Madison. The girls lost the State Cup game to undefeated Orange 3-1. Kaitlyn King and Malia Gioffre stood out in this hard-fought game with aggressive ball handling and head-to-head ball wins. Kaley Meisenheimer netted the lone goal for the Pack. The girls then lost a heartbreaker in their first Madison tournament game. Strong offensive pushes were mounted from Faith Ohara with Hannah Groonell, while Hannah Daly and Colleen Phaneuf were beasts on defense. Olivia Cavallero was also strong in goal. I

In the second tourney game the Pack earned a win with goals netted by Hannah Groonell and Laura Augenbraun. Bella Manfredi and Sarah Tressler were also an offense force in this game and Kaley Meisenheimer was terrific in goal. The last game ended in a tough 1-0 loss, but strong offense was mounted by Karsen Pirone and Maddie Stites with multiple shots on goal. Colleen Phaneuf was fantastic in goal supported by the strong defensive leadership of Hannah Daly.

U12

West Hartford Freedom 4, Newtown Dynamite 0: Newtown Dynamite suffered a defeat at the hands of West Hartford in the second round of the Connecticut Cup in Farmington over the weekend. Newtown wasn’t able to get much going as the Freedom took control 15 minutes in with a breakaway goal. Newtown was limited to few opportunities, including a direct kick just outside the top of the goal box resulting from Jackie Seras being taken down hard by a West Hartford defender. The defender was issued a yellow card for the tackle. Emily Celentano tested the opposing goalkeeper with a drive from the right side.

U14

Panthers 1, Darien 0: Audrey Sedensky and Bryana Benson combined with Greta Staubly and Diana Kirkman as a defensive machine challenging Darien’s downfield advances. When not on the field, both Alex Futterman and Maria Ringes sacrified their bodies by stopping Darien shots at net with true grit. Dani Otero held off Darien at middle field while Jess Cruz and Prya Dulraney kept the Panther ball moving, sending it down the sideline to stand out wingbacks, Catherine Shaw and Sam Crespo. Fine footwork was the name of the game with stellar moves from Sedensky, Crespo and Kelly. The one and only Panther goal came late in the second half. A shot by Lauren Russo was deflected by the Darien goalie and Juliet Grover scored on the rebound.

I Can’t Remember 1, Wild Animals 1: I Can’t Remember worked hard to avenge an earlier defeat, displaying huge improvements in positional play, passing ability, and self-belief. The first half was an open, fast-flowing game with both teams using the width of the field in an attempt to breach the highly organized defenses. Juliette Row gave I Can’t Remember a 1-0 lead with a clinical shot from the edge of the 6-yard box, following nice work from the battling Kristina Goeree at midfield.  Wild Animals counter-attacked in response and were awarded a penalty for a handball in the box. Zoe Ivan stepped up to take the spot kick, but was unlucky to see her thunderous shot go over the crossbar. I Can’t Remember’s Lauryn Ankers,  Jaclyn O’Leary, and Emma DaSilva made superb defensive plays throughout, linking well with Keira Veillette who orchestrated a series of fluid attacks from midfield. It looked like enough to earn the 1-0 win, but the Wild Animals were not to be denied and eventually got their equalizer. Holly LoCasio, Liz Weisberger, and Zoe Ivan battled hard for the Wild Animals and had several shots on goal that were stopped by Jenna Ehnot, but their persistence paid off, and Ehnot could do nothing about a fantastic shot into the far corner of her goal. For I Can’t Remember, Merije DeWit launched attack after attack from the left wing.

Boys

U10

Weston 5, Pythons 1: Scoring the lone goal for Newtown was Neil Kalra. Stephen Dooley had a busy afternoon in goal, stopping a barrage of shots including a save on a penalty kick. Dan Delia had a great game at midfield and John Sullivan pressed hard on Weston’s defense all afternoon.

U11

Yellow 6, Weston 1: Ethan Correia netted two goals — one on a header from a corner kick from Hunter Kirkman — with Jeff Gioiele, Eli Delp, Ryan Kraus, and Jonathan Liberante adding one goal each as the Newtown squad improved to 4-0 on the season. The team defense continued its season-long strong effort, led by stalwarts Devin Johnson, Mattias Paltauf, and Taylor Clark-Paivo. The U11 yellow squad has allowed only four goals on the season — the only one Sunday coming on a penalty kick. The goaltending from Rick Irving and Jeff Gioiele helped keep the Weston offense in check. The offensive output was also sparked by sharp midfield play and crisp passing from Zachary Masone, Constantine Kyprianou, Jake Pare, and Justin Jarvis.

Newtown opened the season with a 4-3 victory over New Canaan, followed by shutout victories over the FUSA Bandits and the FUSA Blue Thunder.

Tolland 5, Newtown 4: The Newtown Blaze players played their hearts out in their second round of the Connecticut State Cup at home this past Saturday. The team looked strong throughout the game, working hard on their passing and possession. JP Ford scored the first goal for Newtown, with an assist from Ryan Beardsley. Kyle Duval scored the second goal, with an assist from Jacob Laros. Ryan Beardsley added a third goal, pushing it into the net just over the line on a goalie catch after a strong assist from Ben Futterman’s fancy direct kick fake, forcing the game into overtime to declare who would advance to the next bracket.

Duncan O’Leary and Bryce Benson were a tremendous combo in defense, confidently clearing the ball on multiple occasions. Justin DeThomas, Jacob Laros, Ben Futterman, and Will Pellison also never game up, chasing several offending balls from the back field. Owen Baillargeon placed Newtown ahead in the first period of overtime with a goal off an indirect kick, with assistance from Thomas Armstrong who did an amazing job of screening the goalie to distract him from stopping the ball. Newtown continued to battle in the second overtime period, with shots on goal by Kyle Duval, Justin DeThomas, Ryan Beardsley, and Owen Baillargeon, but the Blaze fell to two additional goals from Tolland, bringing the final score to 5-4. Tristan Andrews went the distance in goal with a total of 55 minutes of regulation play in the second half and two overtime periods, with some great saves.

Southbury 3, Newtown 0: The team had several opportunities to move the ball into a scoring possibility, but could not find their way past the Southbury goalie in this regular season game. Ryan Beardsley tended Newtown’s goal in the first half and demonstrated laser focus, catching multiple saves and deflecting several others. Joseph Preemus, Kyle Duval, Ben Futterman, JP Ford, and Thomas Armstrong made several shots on goal and kept the pressure on their opponents. Justin DeThomas, Bryce Benson, Duncan O’Leary, Jacob Laros and Joseph Preemus were strong on defense and kept pushing the ball to the front of the field for their team during most of the first half. Southbury jumped into action during the second half, scoring all three of their goals and leaving the Newtown team ready for a break after a long weekend of soccer.

U13

Titans 6, Stamford 0: The Newtown Titans won handily last Sunday, beating the Stamford Hurricanes 6-0 at Treadwell Field. The game puts the Titans in first place in their division with a 3-1 record. Henry Petrillo scored the first goal. Wally Skrelja was assisted by Danny Arneth and scored the second goal from outside the goalie box. Nick Weiland followed up with the third goal, and Jack Oltran deposited the fourth before the half and a 30-minute game delay because of thunderstorms visible to the west. The game resumed regulation play at approximately 5:15 pm. Weiland scored the Titan’s fifth goal, followed by Christian Adam’s sixth and final goal. Constant offensive pressure from Michael Greenspan, Grant Larson, Grant Moxham, and Aidan O’Leary kept the ball in the Stamford half. A strong defensive line, including Irwin Grewal, Jack Armstrong, James Barden and, Santiago Forero, held Stamford at bay. And goalies Thomas Skrelja and Oltran blocked every ball that came their way.