High School Boys’ Soccer Team Rebounds From ‘Bad Tie’ For Hard-Fought Win

By Andy Hutchison

Newtown High School’s boys’ soccer team nipped New Milford 1-0 in a tough battle on the road on Monday. Matt Mossbarger scored the only NHS goal, giving Nighthawks a 5-1-3 record, and a better feeling about themselves following what Coach Brian Neumeyer called a “bad tie,” a 2-2 deadlock at Bunnell of Stratford on October 4.

“They played much better,” Neumeyer said. “We showed a little bit of toughness that we need to kind of hang our hat on for the rest of the year.”

NHS captain Eric Fiore called it a satisfying win given the physical play that transpired with their South-West Conference rivals. “We didn’t let them push us around,” he said.

Newtown will strive to build off this victory as the team pushes forward toward the postseason.

The Nighthawks, in their tie with Bunnell, got first half goals from Charlie Helgren and Nick Barreto before the host Bulldogs capitalized on a couple of defensive breakdowns to pull even with two transition goals.

Neumeyer, after the disappointing deadlock, said he thought his team was flat and wanted to see them play with some more heart.

“We’ve got to settle down a bit and offensively we’ve got to be composed and we can be pretty damaging,” senior Connor Quinn said.

“We’ve got to become a little more calm, just work the ball around a little bit more — get some goals,” Helgren said.

Helgren nearly broke a late-game tie with a blast from outside the 18-yard box that deflected off a defender’s foot and banged off the cross bar. “It was an intense match,” Helgren said.

The Nighthawks, following Wednesday’s scheduled game with Brookfield (after The Bee sports section went to press), will play the final of four straight road games in a makeup clash with Notre Dame-Fairfield on Friday, October 12. Newtown returns to Blue & Gold Stadium to take on Kolbe Cathedral of Bridgeport at 10 am on Saturday, October 13.