Boys’ Booters Battle All The Way To Quarterfinals Before Falling

By Andy Hutchison

NORWALK — Newtown High School’s boys’ soccer team had an impressive Class LL state tournament run come to a disappointing end in a hard-fought loss to top-seeded Norwalk, in the quarterfinals, on November 13.

The Nighthawks, the ninth seed in the bracket, held a 1-0 lead for much of the night but a pair of late-second half goals by the Bears gave the hosts a 2-1 win and ended Newtown’s season.

Matt Mossbarger scored a first-half goal that stood up until Norwalk’s Kevin Joslyn scored the first of his two goals, with 15:11 remaining in regulation, when he booted home a loose ball off a corner kick entry. The game appeared headed for overtime before Joslyn put a low shot into the back of the net with just 3:13 remaining.

The Nighthawks, before Joslyn’s go-ahead tally, had a few good chances to tie the score. Nathan Kalra took a cross from Eric Fiore and banged a shot just barely high and wide of the goal with about 9:30 left and, moments later, Mossbarger’s bid for another goal, off a nice feed from Charlie Helgren, went just wide.

But it was Newtown’s inability to cash in on three or four opening-half chances to build on its lead that proved to be most costly to the Nighthawks, Newtown Coach Brian Neumeyer said. “That would have been the difference,” Neumeyer said.

The Hawks dominated the play in the opening half and finished with a decisive scoring chance advantage. Norwalk goalkeeper Svet Kozak made eight saves and Newtown’s Elijah Klorczyk stopped three.

“The boys played really well. We wish Norwalk luck,” Neumeyer said.

The Nighthawks also put together a solid 80 minutes of soccer to earn a hard-fought 2-0 win over host Wilton in the state tournament’s second round on Sunday, November 11.

The Hawks got goals from Helgren and Fiore, and a small handful of diving saves from Klorczyk to knock off the No. 8 Warriors.

Helgren’s first-half goal, set up by Fiore, was all the Nighthawks could muster despite some in-close opportunities that were turned away by Wilton keeper Peter Como (eight saves), until a late insurance tally by Fiore, assisted by Kalra.

Klorczyk helped preserve the lead with many of his seven saves coming in the final 20 or so minutes of the game. The Newtown keeper raced out to the top of the 18-yard box and slid to break up Wilton’s bid to tie the game with 22:13 left. Less than two minutes later Klorczyk made a similar play — in the same area — again to keep Newtown in front. A diving save to his right with 17-plus minutes to go proved to be another key turn-away.

“He was just all over the goal, making saves like crazy,” Neumeyer said.

“It feels great,” Klorczyk said of being part of such a big win.

Klorczyk did get some help from his defense, including a goal-saving boot-out by Helgren. With under eight minutes left, Wilton’s Luke Reyes Guerra Dunn got a header over the NHS keeper, but Helgren was standing on the goal line near the post to the right of the Newtown keeper, and cleared the ball away just before it crossed the line.

Moments after that near miss for Wilton, the Hawks struck to all but put the game away. Fiore got behind the defense and sent a low shot past Como for a 2-0 lead with 7:17 left.

“I think it was tremendous — one of the best efforts by us all year,” Neumeyer said. “We knew we were not going to be in for an easy game at all.”

Wilton (which went 12-3-1 in the regular season) was coming off a 5-1 romping of No. 25 Shelton in the first round. A key to victory over Wilton, Neumeyer said, was Newtown’s pressing style. The Nighthawks used their speed and athleticism to pressure the Warriors constantly. “That’s who we are. That’s the personality of our team,” the coach said.

The Nighthawks (11-2-3) earned the tough task of trying to upset a 14-1-1 Norwalk team and nearly did so. This after barely escaping the opening round with a win.

Newtown had advanced with an overtime win over Cheshire in the first round, at Treadwell Park on November 9. Fiore scored with just a half-minute left in the second ten-minute overtime to lift Newtown.

“It feels good. I think when we got into overtime that we played well and came together,” said Fiore, whose ninth-seeded Nighthawks took a 1-0 first-half lead before Cheshire deadlocked the score before halftime.

Kalra took a pass from Helgren and scored to break the ice midway through the opening half. The Nighthawks controlled the play for much of the afternoon, finishing with a decisive 11-4 shots advantage. Cheshire goalkeeper Evan Colechia did his part to force overtime with some solid saves.

“I think we could have won the game earlier,” said Neumeyer, adding that he was happy to get the win. “It’s a good way to start the tournament.”

The game came close to being decided in penalty kicks; after two scoreless ten-minute OT periods, PKs would unfold. Neumeyer, whose Hawks were knocked out of the South-West Conference tourney in PKs, was relieved to not face that potential ending for another tournament.

“We didn’t want to go out on PKs. We didn’t want to go that way.”

Thanks to Fiore’s goal, set up on a feed from Wes Morlock, the Nighthawks didn’t have to let the anything-can-happen penalty kick decider come into play.

Neumeyer said after the season-ending defeat to Norwalk that he was pleased with his team’s efforts and added that a tough draw put his Hawks against tough competition in the early to mid stages of the tourney.