NHS Girls’ Soccer Team Scores Early In Rout Of New Fairfield

By Andy Hutchison

NEW FAIRFIELD — The goals kept coming. Newtown High School’s girls’ soccer team put four on the scoreboard before the end of the first half and coasted to a 5-2 win at New Fairfield on a windy October 15 afternoon.

The Nighthawks then blanked Bunnell of Stratford 2-0 at Treadwell Park on October 19 to improve to 7-2-3 overall as the girls enter into their final handful of games before embarking on South-West Conference and state tournament playoff action.

Against New Fairfield, Newtown dominated control of the game from the start, using the game plan to work the ball out to the wings to generate offensive chances.

NHS Coach Marc Kenney knew New Fairfield would run an offside trap in an effort to get Newtown’s forwards behind the last line of defense ahead of the ball, so he countered that with an emphasis on moving the ball the receded flank players and moving the ball carefully up field. That play resulted in the first three goals.

“I thought we did a great job of that,” Kenney said.

Brittany Tolla, Melissa Buccino, and Kaitlin Brophy all scored for an early 3-0 lead, with Brophy’s tally coming on a tough-angle free kick from just a few yards inside the left sideline. Amy Martin scored twice in the win, which was a nice rebound effort following a 4-0 loss to Joel Barlow three days earlier.

“I thought if we played hard and maintained our composure that we’d do pretty well — and we did,” Kenney said.

The coach was thrilled not only with the win, but how his team got it — by establishing an early lead and putting the opposition away.

“I’m obviously happy with the result. For me, the biggest positive is we were able to get those goals early. It relieves a lot of pressure when you’re able to score goals in the first 20 minutes,” Kenney said.

Newtown used early goals to gain an advantage over Bunnell in the next game, with both goals coming in the first half. Maddy Keane scored the first goal on a free kick from 40 yards out and Martin scored the second goal from 25 yards out with a rocket placed perfectly into the upper left corner.

Newtown was scheduled to host New Milford on Thursday (after The Bee went to press), and will host Brookfield on Saturday, October 23, at Treadwell Park at 7 pm, before closing out the regular season slate with a road date with Lauralton Hall in Milford on October 25.