Persistent And Skilled Field Hockey Team Looking For More Breakthroughs

By Andy Hutchison

There were sighs of relief up and down the Newtown High School bench, and among the players on the field. More than 46 action-packed, Newtown pressure-generated minutes into the hourlong game, the field hockey team finally broke through against Masuk en route to 2-0 win at Treadwell Park on October 18.

The Nighthawks improved to a deceptive 4-7-1. Among the seven losses were four hard-to-swallow 1-0 nail-biters. A better bounce here, a finish on a scoring chance there, and who knows how many wins the Nighthawks might have.

One thing’s for sure: this team has all the makings of a squad ready to pull off some playoff upsets — assuming the girls qualify. The Nighthawk lost yet another 1-0 heartbreaker, at Bethel on October 19 to drop their fifth one-goal game this campaign. Following an October 21 clash with Joel Barlow of Redding (after The Bee went to press) Newtown will face New Fairfield and Ridgefield to conclude the regular season this coming week. The team is in contention to qualify for both the South-West Conference and state playoffs and the Hawks hope they can continue to reverse their goal scoring-woe misfortunes as they did against Masuk, and pull out some wins.

“We’ve been waiting to break through with a goal. We have had constant pressure on team after team after team — playing about 55 minutes offensively and letting them break through for five minutes and losing that way,” NHS Coach Amanda Shevlin said. “So, it’s not a matter of skills or anything like that. It’s a matter of hunger for the goal.”

Against Masuk, the Nighthawks complied 20 shots on goal to none for the visitors as the field seemed to be tilted in one direction with virtually all of the play on Masuk’s defensive side of the field. The Hawks also had 15 penalty corners compared to none by their opponents, yet the outcome remained very much in doubt until the final minutes.

Nicole Defelice broke the ice when she banged home a shot assisted by Nancy Rodriguez with 13:41 to play. With 4:26 to go, Kayla O’Leary slipped a tough-angle rebound shot inside the left post off a rebound of Katie Canavan’s hard shot.

“Everyone got focused and we focused on scoring,” Canavan, one of the team captains said after the game.

Canavan said the team’s win-loss record is no indication of just how got these Hawks are. “I think it’s one of the most skilled teams we’ve ever had,” she said.

“I definitely think the girls are putting in a lot of effort,” the coach said. “We’ve been neck-and-neck, if not outrunning, outworking them,” Shevlin added.

Newtown also happened to face the best of the SWC teams early in the season, and held its own in tight losses to New Milford (1-0 and 2-0) as well as New Fairfield and Lauralton Hall (losing each of those games 1-0).

The Hawks, through the Masuk game, are 2-1-1 in their last four, including a 3-3 tie at Haddam-Killingworth on October 11 and a 2-0 win at Weston on October 12. In the 3-3 tie, Hannah Koch, Katelyn Kean, and Canavan all scored, and Canavan added a pair of assists.

In the win over Weston, Maggie Korth and Canavan found the net, and Koch had an assist.