By Kim J. Harmon

“We’re going to continue to work hard until we win a state championship. With the group of guys we have coming back, I think we have a shot.” – and so it was said by head coach Brian Neumeyer at the Newtown High School boys’ and girls’ year-end soccer banquet on at 707 On Main.

The NHS soccer teams – about 60 players with parents and friends – gathered on Sunday night to celebrate what has been a truly remarkable season. While the girls finished up a pretty successful season at 13-5-0 (No. 3 seed in South-West Conference playoffs and No. 9 seed in CIAC Class LL state tournament), but the boys achieved even more by claiming the SWC championship and finishing up 19-1-0.

Coach Neumeyer and coach Rupert de los Reyes reflected on the season.

When coach Neumeyer talked about the season – naming his captains for next year (Ryan Tracey and Jake Rouse) and mentioning that junior Mike Troy fell one goal short of the state record of 44 – he consistently referred to his team as the group. It was same type of philosophy from the Gene Hackman movie, Hoosiers, where it was, “Team, team, team – no one is more important than another.”

Coach Neumeyer presented to his three captains – Matt Pachniuk, Colin Armstrong and Ian Walker – a copy of his favorite book, Soccer In Sun And Shadow by Eduardo Galeano.

Pachniuk, in his remarks said, “You want to succeed under (coach Neumeyer). That’s why he is – and always will be – a winner.” Armstrong added, “You not only made us want to win, but you showed us how.”

Chris Donnelly, junior varsity coach, also introduced his players and reflected on their successful campaign.

Following dinner, coach de los Reyes had a chance to expound on the 2001 season and it started with his arrival back in September. “One of the deciding factors in coming to Newtown,” he said, “was my relationship with Brian Neumeyer. It made things very easy for me.”

He went on to say, “I came here with one goal in mind – and that was to win a championship.”

It didn’t happen this year, but coach de los Reyes said he was confident it would. When he reflected on some of the highlights of the season – the goal by Kim Helfer against Lauralton Hall, the goal by Chelsea Morin against Bunnell, the goal by Siobhan Cooper against Trumbull – he brought up names of many players who are only freshmen or sophomores.

Coach de los Reyes also handed out his post-season awards – the Freshman Award (Mary Anders), the Sophomore Award (Kelley Haines and Kate Fenton), the Junior Award (Allison Frobey) and the Senior Award (Cara Delvecchio). His Comeback Player of the Year was Alex Helfer while his Extra Effort Award went to the versatile (she played every position on the field) Caroline Kunkel.

And the Most Valuable Players of the year were his two backs – Kim Helfer and Kelley Haines.

Junior varsity coach Joe Crimi also had a chance to look back at the season and gave his girls kudos for finishing 13-1 during the regular season and 17-2 overall.