NHS Booters Hope To Build Off Win

By Andy Hutchison

BETHEL — Newtown High School’s boys’ soccer team bounced back from a 2-0 loss to Masuk under the lights at Blue & Gold Stadium on Saturday with a solid 4-1 at Bethel on Monday afternoon. The Nighthawks hope this win serves as a corner-turning mark in an up and down season that has been impacted significantly by injuries.

“I think we played our best game of the year. As a team, we really need to turn the season around for ourselves,” Head Coach Brian Neumeyer said.

Newtown built a fairly comfortable 3-1 lead by halftime and had four different goal-scorers when all was said and done. The Nighthawks improved to 5-4-1 and the host Wildcats walked off the field with the same record.

Neumeyer was encouraged by his team’s aggressiveness, the clean play given the physicality of this , and his team’s ability to create opportunities.

“We really did everything a soccer team is supposed to do,” the coach added.

“We never quit,” Conner Collier said. “It was a really good game by everyone — from the backs to the forwards.”

Collier, Chris Marks, and Sam Hogland had first-half goals and Andrew Meisel capped the scoring when he clanked a blast off the post on a free kick in the second half. Neumeyer was happy to see his players find the net four times against a respectable South-West Conference team.

The Nighthawks blanked Weston 3-0 on Tuesday and have four games remaining as they tune-up for postseason.

“We want to get our team into a flow where we’re successful later in the year,” Neumeyer said. “We’re still trying to find an identity because we still haven’t had a full squad yet.”

Newtown began the year with a small handful of starters sidelined with injuries and have only recently begun to get healthy. Three key players made their season debuts six games into the season. Marks, on Monday, notched his first goal of the campaign since returning to the field.

The Nighthawks face a rematch with Joel Barlow, a team they fought with to a 1-1 tie on September 23, this Friday (at Barlow at 7 pm). They play their last home game Wednesday when New Fairfield comes to Blue & Gold Stadium for a 7 pm start, and close out the regular campaign with games at Bunnell and New Fairfield October 17 and 20, respectively.