Boys Seek Improvement, But A Win’s A Win

By Andy Hutchison

MONROE — Newtown High School’s boys’ soccer team may not have played up to its potential, but the Nighthawks got the job done, pulling out a 3-2 win at Masuk High under the lights this past Tuesday. Newtown improved to 4-1 overall and Masuk slipped to 2-4.

Newtown, behind two Connor Quinn goals, was staked to a 2-0 lead but the host Panthers fought back to tie the score. That set the stage for Ryan Dunnigan’s game-winning blast from about 25 yards out. The Nighthawks used patience and pin-point passing to set up the decisive tally. They worked the ball across the field from left to right and the sequence of passes culminated with James Mooney’s touch to Dunnigan, who took his time and leaned into a boot in which he sent the ball into the top right corner of the net. The goal came midway through the second half and held up thanks to a strong finish by the Hawks.

Newtown Coach Brian Neumeyer liked a lot of what he saw — at times — in this game, but wants to see his team fix some mistakes. He said spots of lackadaisical play in the back, which included too many touches back to goaltender Austin Puleri, need to stop if the team is going to make strides.

“I’m happy with the overall result of the game. We’re just, again, looking to improve from day one. We’re on that path. We’ve just got to clean up some of the blunders that we had today. We had a couple of blunders — major ones. We’ve just got to get rid of those,” Neumeyer said. “We’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing now — for this time of year. So I’m not disappointed.”

Neumeyer said the winning goal came from the kind of play he expects out of the Nighthawks on a regular basis: patience with the ball.

“We want to hold the ball and when we hold the ball we’ll create opportunities. And whether it’s from distance or in close, when we hold the ball we’ll be successful,” the coach said.

Neumeyer said the team considers the first four games to be, in effect, its preseason. Now, with a few games under their belts, and several tough games on the horizon, the coach wants his squad to sharpen its game.

Newtown visits Weston on Saturday, October 1, for a 6:45 pm game, and hosts perhaps its toughest rival, Joel Barlow of Redding, Tuesday, October 4. The Falcons visit Blue & Gold Stadium for a 7 pm clash.

“Weston on the road, on their turf, is a very tough game for us — tough opposition, and Barlow’s Barlow. There’s nothing else to say about that,” Neumeyer said.

After the Barlow game, Newtown visits New Fairfield for an October 6 game, before returning home to face Bunnell of Stratford, which knocked the Hawks out of the conference playoffs a year ago, October 11, at 7 pm at Blue & Gold.

“This next week, and stretch of games, is critical for us — starting with today’s win which, again, a W’s a W,” Neumeyer said.

In the win over Masuk, Puleri made five saves and got a little bit of late-game help from Mooney who nullified a scoring chance by clearing a bouncing ball out of harm’s way.

Newtown blanked Stratford 2-0 on September 22 behind a pair of Dunnigan second-half goals on penalty kicks. The Nighthawks blanked Notre Dame-Fairfield 4-0 in a driving rain at Tilson Field the next day. Quinn scored twice, and Josh Barrett and Eric Fiore added tallies. Backup goalkeeper Sean Elliott made a nice save, punching the ball away, in the second half.