By Steve Bigham

BETHEL - Leading Joel Barlow 1-0 in the South-West Conference semi-finals on Wednesday night, the Newtown High School boys’ soccer team was just 30 minutes away from a berth in the SWC championship game . . . when the floodgates opened and Joel Barlow scored three unanswered goals on its way to an exciting 3-2 semifinal win.

It was the most goals Newtown had given up all season, and they all came during a 191/2  -minute stretch.

The Nighthawks’ last-minute rally fell just short on this cold and windy night.

“Barlow came out very aggressive in the second half and we had some breakdowns in the back that we normally don’t have,” said coach Brian Neumeyer.

Second-seeded Barlow, which will face fourth-seeded Bethel in Friday’s final, scored goals at the 49:27, 59:32 and 68-minute marks of the second half to put the game away.

Rob Weiss’ goal off a Brian Gossling assist with five minutes to play cut the score to 3-2, but despite a handful of late scoring opportunities, Newtown, seeded third, was forced to move on, wondering what could have been.

The CIAC Class L state tournament begins next week. Last year, the Nighthawks advanced all the way to the state championship game.

Newtown (11-3-2) grabbed a 1-0 lead at the 35th minute of the first half when freshman Ryan Tracy redirected TJ Wolferseder’s corner kick into the goal. Tracy had just entered the game, and, at the time, it appeared to be a great move by Neumeyer.

But Barlow soon stepped up the pressure and it paid off when Ben Visnyei hit paydirt, tying the game at 1-1. On the play, the ball looped over goalie Tom Malloy’s head and slowly rolled into the goal. Alex Far picked up the assist.

The Falcons took a 2-1 lead at the midway point of the second half when Nick Dandapani scored on a deflection. It went up 3-1 on Visnyei’s second goal, which was created after a Newtown defender fell down while covering the play.

Neumeyer pointed to a handful of near-miss opportunities in the first half when his team had a chance to possibly put Barlow away. Rich Engel’s blast from 30 yards out hit the crossbar and a Weiss bullet was snared by Barlow goalie Dan Gonzalo. Brendan Cavanaugh also had a couple of good looks.

“We should have put them away when we had the chance,” Neumeyer said.

The 14-1-2 Falcons also had their share of first-half chances, including one that was miraculously kicked away by defender Jared Miller, who was playing his first game in several weeks.

Newtown has gone 1-2-2 over its last five games after a 10-1 start. But while the Nighthawks had been struggling to score goals in recent weeks, Wednesday’s contest wasn’t about a lack of offense. On this night, Newtown broke down defensively for the first time all season. Remember that heading into the SWC semis, the locals had given up just six goals all season.

“For us, that didn’t happen all season. For our group, that’s very rare,” Neumeyer said. “I’m shocked we let in three goals. If we had lost 1-0, that would have been more like it.”

When asked why he thought the defense struggled, Neumeyer simply shrugged his shoulders. “I’ll have to ask the guys,” he said.

Newtown lost a, 1-0, overtime decision to Joel Barlow earlier in the year.

Barlow Coach Jim Dolan said his team came out with a more offensive setup in the second half, took some chances, and quickly turned the game around. Dolan felt the Bethel pitch helped his team’s attack.

“The field is smaller and the ball gets in front of the goal a lot quicker,” he said.

This was Joel Barlow’s third come-from-behind win of the season. It rallied to beat both Kolbe Cathedral and Bethel earlier on.

“To Newtown’s credit, they were all we could handle. They created a lot of chances. The game could have gone either way,” Dolan said. “A lot of people said Newtown was slumping, but they brought their `A’ game today.”

Neumeyer and the boys’ soccer team would likely disagree. Newtown’s `A’ game would have resulted in a trip to the finals.

NOTES: Barlow will seek its third consecutive league title Friday night against bethel. The Wildcats upset top-seeded Masuk, 2-0. The contest will be played at Joel Barlow in Redding. Newtown outshot Barlow, 18-15. Malloy registered 10 saves, while Gonzalo had 11.