After an emotional 3-2 overtime win in the first round of the CIAC Class LL state tournament, the South Windsor Bobcats hosted the Newtown Eagles on Monday afternoon for the second round of the tournament. The teams met once during the regular season, where the ‘Cats took home a 2-0 win, making for a highly anticipated rematch with a trip to the quarterfinals on the line.
As the game began, the Bobcats were quick to get on the attack. The majority of the first half was spent with the ball near Newtown’s goal.
Multiple Bobcats had strong shots during the opening half but none could find the back of the net. Newtown goalie James D’Amico was dominant and made several huge saves to keep the home team scoreless at the half.
On the other side of the field, South Windsor was down to their third goalkeeper of the season. Starter Franchescho Linares has been out since the East Catholic game on September 22, while Eshaan Day left the first round game against Hamden after hurting his arm.
Head coach Pete Lepak turned to Aadi Praveenkumar. Making his first career varsity start, the junior did not disappoint. With help from his defenders, Praveenkumar went mano a mano with D’Amico, holding Newtown scoreless and sending the game to the half tied at 0.
The tie wouldn’t last long in the second half. Junior Blake Lyons found his twin brother Riley just two minutes into the half. Lyons placed it just past the outstretched arms of D’Amico and into the net for the games first goal.
Just a few minutes later, Blake Lyons would take a corner kick. Lyons lofted it right in front of the net, where junior Ian Park soared past the defense to head in the second goal. In the blink of an eye, the Bobcats led by two.
With the momentum now fully swinging to the home team, senior captain Hayden Xhokaxhiu found fellow senior Chris Maio in front of the net for yet another goal. A three goal swing in a matter of minutes completely stunned the Newtown crowd and bench.
With the clock starting to wind down, Riley Lyons connected with senior Junior Heredia. Heredia tapped the ball into the back left of the net. Heredia’s first goal since September 8 would be the nail in the coffin for the Eagles.
In the closing minutes of the game, Lepak emptied his bench. Junior Brody Jurczyk would find separation from his defender. D’Amico came out of the net to try and play the ball but Jurczyk would slip past him and find the back of the net. The fifth and final goal, all in the second half, sent the crowd into pure pandemonium.
The horn sounded and the Bobcats were officially heading to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2022.
After getting the scoring barrage started, Riley Lyons spoke to The Prowl on the team’s special bond, saying “After Eshaan got injured, we now have a brother to play for. I’m excited to represent him in our future games and am proud of the team’s performance today.”
Ian Park thinks the injury to Dey helped bring the team together, “I really feel like before Eshaan’s injury, a lot of the players lost a lot of their passion for the game considering how long the season was, but since then, we’ve found a reason to play and we really showed that against Newtown,” Park said.
With the first two rounds under their belt, the Bobcats are riding high going into the quarterfinals on Thursday night. They know they’ll have their work cut out for them as they travel to Farmington to battle the three-seeded River Hawks, but if this season has taught you anything, you should know to never doubt these ‘Cats.
