Girls’ Soccer Team Hopeful Lone Defeat Serves As Playoff Motivator

By Andy Hutchison

If not for a 1-0 loss to Immaculate of Danbury on October 18, Newtown High School’s girls’ soccer team would have had an unbeaten regular campaign. But, if not for finally losing in the second-to-last tilt of the season, the Nighthawks might not have the bitter taste of defeat to remind them how much they want to win when it counts most, Newtown Coach Marc Kenney believes.

“It helps. Oh my gosh it helps,” he said of losing a game before the playoffs start. “We were really bad. We played really, really poorly in the first half,” said Kenney, adding that an injury to Bridget Power and Amy Martin feeling under the weather left the team at less than full strength, but that he wasn’t making excuses. “They won the game. We didn’t.

“I think it adds a little flavor for us because I think we were starting to think that we couldn’t be beaten and we could show up and play any way we wanted to play and we were going to win the game, and that just simply is not the result.”

The Nighthawks took on Pomperaug of Southbury in the regular season finale on Tuesday and played the Panthers to a 1-1 tie thanks to a Melissa Buccino goal. They won the South-West Conference’s Colonial Division with a record of 11-1-3 and earned the tourney’s second seed behind Immaculate, along with a rematch with Pomperaug, which earned the seventh seed, in the first round of the SWC tourney.

“Going forward, the losses mean you’re done and hopefully that put a little bad taste in our mouth knowing that this is what it feels like to lose, and just know that if this happens again in a week our season’s over,” Kenney said he told his players, referring to the season-ending state tournament next week.

The Nighthawks can’t afford to lose in the South-West Conference tournament, which gets underway with a quarterfinal round home game at 4 pm on Friday, October 26. Kenney is expecting a solid effort from his squad but doesn’t think his team has much more or less of chance at winning than the other tourney title contenders.

“The SWC this year is the strongest I remember — ever,” Kenney said. “I don’t think seedings are relevant.”

After all, the Hawks will face a deceptive seventh seeded team which just tied them. There won’t be a draw this time around since it’s the postseason.

Newtown could have beaten top-seeded Immaculate, the coach believes, and some of the other teams, in addition to Pomperaug, below NHS in the standings gave the Nighthawks a battle in the regular season. Fourth-seeded Joel Barlow of Redding narrowly lost a 1-0 decision on a late-game goal by Newtown, and fifth-seeded Lauralton Hall of Milford played NHS to a scoreless tie, for example. The seedings were still very much in flux heading into the final days of the season earlier this week, with several squads jockeying for position and some fighting to get into the eight-team bracket. Kenney said the other SWC coaches and he talk about how they believe this is the year when any team can win it all.