Newtown Pounds Wildcats

The first seven minutes of the game looked pretty good for the Bethel High boys lacrosse team, but after that, it was all Newtown. With five minutes left in the first, the Wildcats (1-5, 1-5) trailed by just one, but the Nighthawks took over from there, scoring 16 of the game’s final 18 goals to cruise to an easy 19-4 win.

“We just kind of made some little mental errors,” Coach Keith Marotta said. “Five mental errors equals eight goals, that’s pretty much the way it works. They started getting inside on us, and there’s not really much you can say about 19-4.”

Time and again, the Nighthawks transition game proved to be too much for the Wildcats to handle as it generated quality scoring chances throughout the game. They scored seven goals in transition in the first half alone, often sparked by a strong first pass from goaltender Brandon Body.

“One of our goals was to just kind of slow the ball down on offense, and their goalie made some good snap passes,” Marotta said. “He was able to clear the ball quickly, that’s a big part of the game, transition. If you can clear the ball in literally less than two seconds, it can be in the midfield, it makes it difficult to defend.”

Bethel’s Ryan Campbell did all he could to keep his team in the game, finishing with 11 saves, but the Nighthawks generated one golden opportunity after another to pile up goals.

“Campbell made some very nice saves for us today, he really did,” Marotta said. “He had some really nice, some really point blank saves, some really good opposite side hip saves, it just stinks that it is what it is.”

Josh Rose scored twice in the first quarter, while Brian Crosby and Doug Schmid each added goals of their own.

With two more games this week, the Wildcats will build on the few positives they had and hope to correct their mistakes before Friday’s game at Notre Dame-Fairfield at 4 p.m. After that they host Danbury on Saturday at 1 p.m.

“Our goalie he played well, he stayed in it, we were able to hold onto the ball on offense which was a positive,” Marotta said. “We’re kind of gonna put it behind us because we have two big games coming up.”