By Steve Bigham

The Newtown High School boys’ soccer team sent a message loud and clear to the rest of the South-West Conference Monday night when it rolled over Bethel, 3-1. The exciting win took place before a large crowd under the lights at Treadwell Park.

Brendan Cavanaugh’s goal in the waning moments of the game ensured the victory and raised Newtown’s record to 7-1. The Nighthawks have turned into a freight train - with coach Brian Neumeyer the engineer - and it is making a run at its first league title in several years.

“It was a statement game for us. We proved to ourselves that we could play against the league’s best,” said Neumeyer.

Against Bethel, Newtown dominated the action in what may have been Neumeyer’s biggest win in his two years at the helm. Sure, he won numerous games a year ago in leading Newtown to the CIAC Class L state title game. But, prior to this week, he had never managed to beat any of the so-called Big Three - Masuk, Joel Barlow and Bethel. And the inability to do so kept the Nighthawks out of last year’s SWC playoffs.

On Monday, the large crowd got a glimpse of the many pieces that make up this impressive bunch. First, there was senior Tom Malloy, who had another fine performance, turning back one Bethel shot after another.

“Once he gets going with a save, it energizes the entire group,” said Neumeyer. “We think he’s the best goalie in the league, and maybe in the state.”

On one occasion, Malloy dove to his right to stop a hard Bethel shot, then made a point-blank kick save to foil another shot attempt.

A year ago, Malloy was the butt of a few jokes from the Bethel faithful during a tough loss on the road. This week, it was the vastly improved Malloy who had the last laugh.

“I’ve felt really good in goal since last year’s state tournament. I guess it has just carried over to this season,” said Malloy, who finished with 10 saves.

Also coming up big was senior Brian Gossling who scored what proved to be the game-winning goal on a free kick midway through the second half. Gossling, who was just coming off an injury, went down again late in the game with a sprained ankle.

“I’ve got about seven injuries right now (ankle, hamstring, shoulder, knee, etc), said Gossling, who drew the respect of his coach for his fine effort in a big game. The forward is listed day-to-day.

Of course, Newtown received its usual big games from co-captains Bret McEvoy and Rich Engel. McEvoy, a sweeper, helps to define what Neumeyer preaches in a ball control game plan. Neumeyer calls him a coach on the field. Engel dominates the midfield where Newtown almost always comes out on top. “Winning the midfield is key,” Neumeyer said.

Junior Rob Weiss broke a scoreless tie at the 32-minute mark of the first half on a pass from Engel. Weiss managed to beat the keeper after a scramble in front of the net off a serve from TJ Wolferseder.

Engel set up the second goal with a fine pass to Gossling, who was pulled down by his defender at the top of the penalty box.

Bethel made it interesting when Brock Lagakis blasted one home off a quick start with 14 minutes left in the game. Newtown continued to press in the game’s final minutes and put the game away when Cavanaugh beat the sweeper and keeper at the 76-minute mark.

“He pressured the keeper into a mistake, then beat the keeper. It was pure hustle,” said Neumeyer. “That goal really defined what we did all night. We just outworked them.”

Newtown is now tied with Joel Barlow and Masuk (each with 7-1 records) and leads Bethel, which fell to 6-2.

Newtown 3, Notre Dame 0: Newtown defeated Notre Dame of Fairfield at home last Friday, doing all its scoring in the first half. “It was the best half we played all year. It was just quality soccer. Tactically, we did what we wanted to do,” Neumeyer said.

 Cavanaugh opened the scoring at 24 minutes after Colin Armstrong won the end line, pulled the ball back and then fed him for the one-timer. The Cavanaugh/Armstrong combination struck again four minutes later as Armstrong’s pass was “volleyed” into the goal by Cavanaugh. The series leading up to the goal was Newtown’s best of the season as eight different players touched the ball.

Andrew Smith closed out the scoring at the 32-minute mark on a pass from Cavanaugh. During the scoring run, Weiss headed the ball to Cavanaugh, who headed the ball to Smith, who headed the ball passed the goalie.

Newtown 3, New Fairfield 0: Newtown rolled over the Rebels in its season opener as Engel, Cavanaugh and Weiss all scored goals. Wolferseder, Weiss and Trey Hoppmeyer all had assists.

Newtown was scheduled to visit Bunnell in Stratford on Wednesday and Jonathan Law of Milford on Friday. Next Tuesday’s home match versus Foran has been moved from 6 pm to 3:45 pm at Treadwell Park. The Nighthawks head to Masuk in Monroe next Friday.