Newtown High Field Hockey, Volleyball Seasons Come To An End In States

By Andy Hutchison

In state tournament action, the Newtown High School field hockey team pushed its first round opponent through three overtimes and penalty strokes before finally losing and the NHS girls’ volleyball team pushed its way into the quarterfinals before falling.

The field hockey team, seeded sixth in the Class L tourney, visited No. 11 South Windsor in the first round on November 11 and lost 1-0 following scoreless regulation, triple overtime and five rounds of penalty strokes. South Windsor scored just once in strokes but that was enough.

“When you go to strokes it’s all chance,” NHS Coach Amanda Hadgraft said. “It has nothing to do with the caliber of play.”

Hadgraft was disappointed in the result, but not in her team’s effort.

“That was the best game they played this entire season,” said the coach, adding that her players displayed their highest level of conditioning in this game. “So how disappointed can I be when my team played their hardest.”

Hadgraft said goaltender Jess Balsano made 21 saves in regulation and overtime and gave the Hawks a chance to prevail. “She is one of the biggest reasons why we got as far as we did [against South Windsor],” the coach said.

Volleyball Team Battles

Newtown High’s girls’ volleyball team advanced into the Class LL tourney’s quarterfinals before getting knocked off by top-seeded Southington. Newtown, the No. 9 seed, had a first round bye before defeating No. 8 Hartford Public 3-0 (25-11, 25-10, 25-12) in the second round on November 12.

The Nighthawks visited Southington on November 14 and put up a heck of a fight, winning the first game and hanging tough in the next three games, but Southington prevailed 3-1 (18-25, 25-20, 25-23, 25-17).

“You’re never happy losing a match,” said NHS Coach Tom Czaplinski, adding that the girls battled to the finish against the top seed in the bracket. “It was one of the better matches we’ve played.”

Czaplinski said senior captain Megan Casey had her best game as a high school player with 21 kills (on 37 attempts) to go along with 18 digs.

Newtwon’s Jess Lynch compiled 39 assists, Abbey Doski had 24 digs, Carly Iwanicki added 9 kills and 7 digs and Alyssa Finkenstadt contributed a strong offensive and defensive game with 6 kills and 3 blocks.