By Steve Bigham

The Newtown High School boys’ soccer team recently completed a pretty successful 11-4-4 season, which included a berth in the South-West Conference semifinals and a trip to the second-round of the CIAC Class L state tournament

One can only wonder how far this year’s squad might have gone had it managed to score a few more goals.

Indeed, goal scoring was not the Nighthawks’ strong point this fall. In fact, they were shutout out seven times in 19 games. It seemed this young team always succeeded in possessing the ball under the tutelage of third-year coach Brian Neumeyer, but struggled to when it came to actually sticking it in net.

Through it all, Andrew Smith and Matt Pachniuk stood tall, keeping the Nighthawks in every game with hard-nosed defense. As the old saying goes, “defense wins games,” and that certainly held true for Newtown, who relied heavily on Smith and Pachniuk to keep it close. As Neumeyer points out, Smith, and Pachniuk were rocks in a program that had lost 13 players to graduation the year before. For their efforts, both have been named to the CIAC Class L All-State squad.

Andrew, a senior sweeper, and Matt, a junior goalie, each has his own unique success story and, despite their individual honors, it was their contribution to the team effort that was so special.

“They’re the reason we were able to stay in so many games,” Neumeyer said.

Andrew, the son of Tom and Anne Smith, took on an entirely new role this year, switching from the midfield (where he started during his sophomore and junior seasons) to sweeper. Bret McEvoy had previously manned this key defensive position, earning All-State honors a year ago. With his departure a year ago, Neumeyer turned to Smith to fill these very big shoes. His performance was sparkling.

“Andrew is very steady. This is an important role for me and he had all the qualities that I was looking for to fill that spot,” Neumeyer said.

Both Andrew and Rob Weiss, the team’s only other senior this year, helped bridge the gap during this transitional year. The program had just come off two huge seasons and 95 percent of those teams had graduated. Playing alongside mostly freshmen and sophomores, Smith and Weiss helped carry the 2000 squad over the hump.

Pachniuk, who becomes an All-Stater as just a junior, recorded 10 shutouts in goal this season. At times, he seemed to defy gravity as he blocked shot after shot. Indeed, he made the most of his first season as Newtown’s full-time goalie. Matt saw action in three varsity games as a freshman, then played all of last year on the junior varsity team as he backed up Tom Malloy, who had an outstanding senior season in ’99.

“He was patient. He knew his time would come and it did come and he made the best of this year,” Neumeyer said. “The thing with Matt is he really wants to be a good goalkeeper. He does the extra stuff that’s necessary.”

Matt is the son of Walter and Valerie Pachniuk.

Both Smith and Pachniuk were also named to the All-SWC team.

Sophomore Jake Rouse was another standout player this past year at midfield. He demonstrated his ability to lead the team in its effort to push the ball up field. He was named to the league’s all-Colonial team along with speedy junior Ian Walker, crafty sophomore Mike Troy, and quick sophomore Ryan Tracy. Weiss was also selected to the all-Colonial team, ending a three year stint as a starter where he proved to be one of Newtown’s’ most consistent scorers.

Sophomore defender Derek Miles was an honorable mention selection after a fine first year as a starter.

With the bulk of the team back again next year, Newtown should be one of the favorites to contend for the SWC title.