Lax Battle of Undefeateds Nets Newtown Win

History has a funny way of repeating itself, and for the Nighthawks boys lacrosse team, recent history has fueled a desire to beat the New Fairfield Rebels.

New Fairfield has established itself as a major force in Connecticut lacrosse over the past four years, winning a Class S CIAC Championship (in 2008) and two South-West Conference championships.

The Rebels also have a history when it comes to the Nighthawks, beating Newtown for the 2008 championship and again in the 2010 semifinal.

In fact, coming into Friday night's matchup at Blue and Gold Stadium, New Fairfield's only loss to the Nighthawks in the past four years came in the 2009 SWC Championship game, when Newtown stopped the Rebels 41 game winning streak with a memorable 9-8 victory.

So there's some history there.

Friday night the two teams were destined to add to that history in a battle of undefeated squads. The Rebels came in at 8-0 and the Nighthawks were sporting a 7-0 record.

Newtown used intense defense and excellent ball control to post a convincing 12-8 victory to remain undefeated, 8-0.

For Newtown, Trey Trudell scored two goals and had three assists, and fellow junior Justin Brophy pumped in three goals and assisted on another to top off a balanced Nighthawks score sheet.

For the Rebels, seniors John Pendergast and Ryan Mallon had four tallies each, and Robbie Fiamengo posted two assists to lead the Rebel scoring.

The game started out at a hyper-kinetic pace. Newtown controlled the opening face-off and established its ability to move the ball around the perimeter quickly.

A New Fairfield penalty for unnecessary roughness gave the Nighthawks the man advantage, and Newtown cashed in when senior attacker Lewis Thompson put a pass on the stick of Brophy, whose pinpoint shot beat Rebel goalie Joe Gephart for a 1-0 Nighthawks lead at 9:33.

Mallon answered less than :20 later, sweeping past the Newtown defense and blistering a shot that beat senior keeper Brandon Body. Mallon quickly got in on the action again, feeding Pendergast for a goal and 2-1 New Fairfield lead at 8:45.

Newtown knotted the score when Trudell found Thompson cutting across the crease to the goalkeeper's left, and the captain made good on his chance. Rebel attackman Robbie Fiamengo worked from behind, and when the Newtown defense was forced to slide towards the junior, his dish to Pendergast quickly ended up behind Body and in the net.

A tripping penalty on Newtown gave New Fairfield the extra man, and after Mallon scored his second goal from a Liam Moriarty feed, New Fairfield was up 4-2.

Newtown Junior Brendan McNamara used his speed to beat his defender to the cage, where Trudell's pass found him in the clear for the shot and score.

It was 4-3 New Fairfield as the first quarter came to a close.

Newtown's defense shut down the Rebel attack in the second and third quarters. McNamara was in control of the face-offs, and the possession game became the Nighthawk's solution to victory.

The speedy and skilled Mallon and sharp-shooting Pendergast were an obvious threat, but defenders Max Nacewicz, Will Fletcher and Jeremy Schaniel used body, brains and hustle to shut down any threats.

Trudell got his third assist of the game on a pass to senior midfielder Dan Sclafani just a minute into the second stanza, and the game was tied at 4.

Forty seconds later, Thompson controlled the ball from behind and slipped a pass to Trudell, whose low shot beat Gephart for a 5-4 lead that Newtown would not relinquish.

At the 8:25 mark, senior midfielder Will Northrop drove hard to his right and drew the slide from the defense, leaving line mate Colby Summerlin unmarked 10 yards outside the crease. The lefty's quick-release shot was on the mark to make it 6-4.

Pendergast would not be denied, as he took another Fiamengo pass and sent a rocket past Body for his third score of the night and New Fairfield's lone score of the second quarter.

Northrop returned the Newtown lead to two when he converted a Brophy pass into a goal to make it a 7-5 halftime lead for the Nighthawks.

Sophomore long-stick midfielder Jack Kearney has received an education over the first half of this season, similar to the proverbial 5-year-old getting thrown into the deep end of the pool so he can quickly learn how to swim.

The athletic Kearney has responded with each passing game, establishing him more and more as a key member of the Newtown defense.

Along with short-stick midfielder Tom Murphy, Kearney and the Newtown back line unit continued to stymie the Rebels into the third quarter, beating the Rebels to ground balls and forcing Mallon and junior Dylan White to endure a veritable gauntlet of pressure inside the attack zone.

On offense, McNamara continued to control face-offs and take quality shots. Brophy opened the third quarter scoring with an unassisted goal at 8:33, but Mallon scored his third two minutes later to make it 8-6.

Brophy struck again at 3:53 thanks to a Dan Hebert feed, pushing the Nighthawk lead to 3. A minute later, Summerlin drove hard to the net, falling to the ground yet somehow controlling himself enough to nudge the ball towards the net and past Gephart.

Hebert's unassisted goal at 1:21 gave Newtown a healthy 11-6 lead heading to the final session.

The New Fairfield program prides itself on playing from start to finish with heart and hustle, and Newtown came out knowing it would take a supreme defensive effort in order to secure the win.

The Nighthawks worked hard enough to keep the Rebels at bay for five minutes of the fourth quarter, but Ryan Mallon is not a force that can be held back for long.

The trademark of the Siena College-bound senior lefthander is that he never stops playing, and when his fourth goal of the evening went into the net at 7:22, the Rebel faithful were ready for a comeback.

A minute and a half later, Pendergast added to the anticipation, taking a Justin Mienke pass and whipping his fourth and final marker of the night into the cage. Both defenses were clamping down, as Nacewicz, Fletcher, Schaniel and Body turned back the Rebel attack again and again.

The icing on the Newtown cake came from Trudell, who worked from behind the cage and circled to his right, flipping an underhand shot, low and hard, to beat Gephart for the night's last offensive gasp.

Both teams seem to feel that they will meet again in the post season -- and for history buffs, that will be one for the books.

Newtown plays next at Immaculate on Tuesday May 3, at 4 p.m.

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