Pomperaug Boys Soccer Defeats Newtown 2-0

It took Pomperaug a half to warm up, but they were able to score two second-half goals on a chilly Monday night to beat the Nighthawks 2-0.

In the first 20 minutes of the game, the Nighthawks competed. They possessed the ball, played the ball forward and won most of the "second balls" off of headers. In fact, they had chances to put the ball in the net.

Fourteen minutes in, it was senior Ryan Dunnigan who took a free kick from the left side of the field about 35 yards out. Dunnigan placed the ball perfectly on the far post, it was deflected around, and a Newtown player collected it and blasted it at goaltender Brian Schaake, who made the save and kept the game scoreless.

That was pretty much it for Newtown, which despite a promising defense, stayed scoreless.

On this night, however, the Panthers were the talk of the Edward Arum Athletic field. Five minutes into the second half, Panther midfielder Matt Murphy blasted a shot from 40 yards out — it hit the cross bar — bounced back out and Pomperaug kept possession.

Thirty seconds later it was senior midfielder Eric Helfer who ripped a shot from 35 yards out. The ball soared across field to the far post and snuck past Newtown goalkeeper Ishan Tatake. That ended up being the game winner.

"I'm not sure where the game got away from us," Newtown head coach Brian Neumeyer said. "I guess it was the intensity in defending, and not pursuing enough in the midfield."

Helfer said this was a big one for the Panthers.

"We've been working up for this one," he said. "All it takes is to get the ball in the net. The first half we played a lot of kick ball. In the second half we just needed to get rid of the jitters. We calmed down and possessed the ball."

Head coach Joe Mancini agreed with his senior midfielder.

"I told them (at the half) to have patience," Mancini said. "We needed to time our runs. In the first half we were just pushing the ball up, but we needed to know when to, and when not to, run."

Pomperaug forward Scott Grant scored the second goal of the game. He collected a long ball down the left side of the field, brought the ball to the middle, made a nice quick move on his defender and blasted a low shot into the back of the net.

Grant, whom Mancini was referring to in terms of timing, was caught off-sides six times throughout the match. Only a junior, Grant is a name South-West Conference coaches will take note of for the next year and a half — if he can stay on-sides of course.

"Other teams have to come and beat us," Mancini said. "I keep telling them, going in (to each game) we're the best. We want to be up at the top. That's the goal."