Registration will be held from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Portuguese Club, 110 Rubber Ave. Registration forms are available at the Parks and Recreation Department on Rubber Avenue or the YMCA on Church Street. Completed registration forms can be mailed to: NYS, P.O. Box 772, Naugatuck, CT, 06770.

Registration can also be completed online at www.naugatucksoccer.org. A $15 late fee applies for registration received after March 1 and late registrations will go on waiting list.

Registration will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Naugatuck Savings Bank, 87 Church St. Registration forms are available at the Parks and Recreation Department on Rubber Avenue or the YMCA on Church Street. Completed registration forms can be mailed to: NYS, P.O. Box 772, Naugatuck, CT, 06770.

Registration can also be completed online at www.naugatucksoccer.org. A $15 late fee applies for registration received after March 1 and late registrations will go on waiting list.

The organization is seeking a purchasing agent and a boys travel director and a 5/6 division director.

The purchasing agent will be in charge of ordering equipment and uniforms and be responsible for keeping an inventory of equipment and supplies in the league.

The duties of the division director may include but are not limited to; acquiring coaches, forming teams in their age groups that are as equal as possible, scheduling games, keeping an inventory, and coordinate with person in charge of field and/or facility space for practice and games. The division director must have a board approved assistant. The assistant will attend board meetings in the absence of the director to report on their division. The assistant has no voting power.

Anyone interested in filling the positions can submit a letter of intent to vicepresident@naugatucksoccer.org.

BEACON FALLS — Nick Oliveira shouted both encouraging and not-so-uplifting messages toward his teammates on the soccer practice field before Woodland’s Class M second-round tournament game last Monday.

The Woodland senior is the manager of the boys soccer team. And he’s only the manager because he can’t play the sport he loves.

Oliveira has cerebral palsy, which requires him to either walk with crutches or use his electric wheelchair. But his physical limitations haven’t kept him from being as much a part of the team as anyone else.

Woodland boys soccer manager Nick Oliveira didn't miss a game or practice during his four years with Tony Moutinho's Hawks. STEVEN MONTAMBAULT

When Oliveira was a freshman, he approached head coach Tony Moutinho about helping the team in any way he could. The rest is history.

“He found immediately a way for me to be a part of the team,” Oliveira says. “And our relationship and chemistry have just grown from there. Now it’s like I’m his right-hand man.”

For as important as soccer is to Oliveira—“it runs in my blood,” he says—Moutinho says his enthusiastic and vocal manager is just as crucial to the Hawks.

“He’s my backbone,” Moutinho says. “He’s my assistant and I run plays through him. Sometimes he agrees and disagrees. Usually I follow his advice. He’s very knowledgeable about the game.”

Oliveira’s helpfulness to Moutinho on the sideline is second only to the manager’s dedication to the team.

“He’s here every single game, every single practice,” Moutinho says. “He hasn’t missed one in all four years he’s been our manager. He inspires all our players.”

Inspiration often comes in the form of some tough love from Oliveira. It worked this season, as Woodland won its first Naugatuck Valley League championship and put together an 18-1-1 overall record.

“I’m harder on them than Tony is sometimes because I can’t play and I want to play so bad,” Oliveira says. “When I see it I let them know so they don’t do it again.”

Even though Oliveira might be critical sometimes, he’s really just one of the guys.

“I just see Nick as almost a player on the team, except he doesn’t play on the team,” senior captain Matt Moutinho says. “He’s always there. When we get on the bus, we always ask, ‘Where’s Nick?’ He’s just another guy on the team to me.”

“These guys are great,” Oliveira says. “They accepted me right from the beginning. It’s been a wonderful relationship ever since day one. And here we are, four years later.”

BEACON FALLS — Tony Moutinho led the Woodland boys soccer team to an undefeated regular season record, a second division title in a row, the program’s first Naugatuck Valley League championship, and the top seed in the Class M state tournament this fall.

Moutinho employs a unique coaching style. He’s humorous but serious. He barks at his players while still letting them take care of business on the field.

For most players, the soccer chatter was always done for the day as soon as they left the pitch. But for one player, it never ends.

“I hear from him on the field, hear from him on the ride home, hear from him when I get home, hear him all the time,” said Tony’s son, Matt, a senior co-captain. “So, if I do something wrong, I hear it for the next week. Most kids just hear it on the field. I hear it when I go to sleep.”

Woodland senior Matt Moutinho, left, notched five goals and had eight assists this season for the Hawks as his father, head coach Tony Moutinho, guided Woodland to the program’s first Naugatuck Valley League championship and an undefeated regular season. RA ARCHIVE

Neither Matt nor Tony thinks anybody plays favorites on a team that set the school record for wins in a season. In fact, they think their familial relationship actually makes it a little tougher on the field at times.

“I think it actually works the other way,” Tony said. “It works against him because he’s my son. People think I’m [picking] favorites so, sometimes it hurts him.”

To make sure favoritism doesn’t play a role, Tony sometimes has to be a little extra harsh toward Matt on the field. That doesn’t always go over so well with Matt.

“I take it a little more offensive,” Matt said. “I feel like he’s yelling at me from a dad’s point of view and a coach’s point of view. I feel like I’m getting double.”

But during his senior season, there weren’t a lot of things about which Tony could yell. The Hawks finished 18-1-1 while Matt scored five goals and had eight assists. He also scored the game-winning goal on a header in the NVL championship against Watertown.

Matt and Tony say their soccer relationship is usually good, as they talk about the sport almost all of the time. But on days that Tony has a little extra to say to his son, somebody else gets involved.

“The worst days are when I get home, I have to listen to my wife because I’m picking on him on the field,” Tony said. “She thinks I’m always picking on him. … That’s all we talk about, soccer in general. My wife gets upset sometimes. She says, ‘Let’s change the conversation, let’s do something else.’”

NAUGATUCK — The Naugatuck boys soccer team advanced to the second round of the Class L tournament, defeating Fermi last Friday before falling to Bunnell on Monday.

Last Friday the No. 13 Greyhounds took on No. 20 Fermi and escaped with a 2-1 victory.

Naugy broke out on top in the eighth minute when Isaque Monteiro snuck a pass through the Fermi defense, finding Jason Goja on the other side. Goja dribbled into the box and let go a shot that settled into the back of the net just before the far post for a 1-0 ‘Hounds lead.

The Falcons (9-7-1) tied the match with 8:33 left in the first half on a goal by Conor Glettenberg off an assist from Dale Quesnel.

The teams were tied going into the half as the physical play continued. Naugatuck needed to find that one break to create an opportunity.

That happened with 19:42 to play when Nolan Kinne sent a free kick from 25 yards out towards Adam Branco at the post. Branco managed to shed the defender and went up with a header that got past the dive of keeper Austin Davis for the game-deciding goal.

“Being able to finish has been our Achilles heel all season,” Naugatuck coach Art Nunes said. “We get great play out on the wings but we can’t seem to finish in the middle. That’s the only frustrating thing. Our defense has been doing a tremendous job and that has led to the turnaround this season.”

That put Naugatuck in the second round against South-West Conference champion Bunnell. The No. 4 Bulldogs got a hat trick from senior striker Zach Zurita and that was the difference in the Greyhounds’ 3-1 loss on Monday in Stratford.

“Bunnell is a very powerful team loaded with seniors who made the Class L championship game last year,” Nunes said. “We got to some loose balls weren’t able to finish. They made the most of their opportunities.”

Branco scored the lone goal for the Greyhounds (12-7-1) off an assist from Kinne. Mike Martins, Matt Schumacher and Kinne keyed the defensive effort with Anthony Pohorilak making five saves against Bunnell (17-2-2).

“Nolan Kinne sacrificed offensive opportunities for the good of the team when I sent him back there on defense,” Nunes said. “That made a huge difference along with the play of Schumacher. You really can’t measure the difference it makes to play in a state tournament.”

Nunes said this season was a learning experience.

“We as a coaching staff had to learn along with the team as the season went on,” Nunes said. “We had a lot of younger players out there and that experience took time to develop. We lost 17 seniors last year but the effect of this year’s seniors has been the reason that we went as far as we did.

“The proudest moment was how we ended up the season compared to how we started,” Nunes said. “But my motto is, if you can look in the mirror and the guy in front of you says you did everything you could, then it was a good day.”

BEACON FALLS — The Woodland girls soccer team had its way with Wilcox Tech in last Thursday’s Class M first round. The Hawks were on the other end against Coginchaug in Monday’s second round.

No. 9 Woodland beat No. 24 Wilcox Tech, 6-0, before losing to No. 8 Coginchaug, 6-1, to end one of the best seasons in program history.

The Hawks experienced a bit of a slow start in their first-round game. Audra Blewitt drilled a header off an Alaina Neddermann corner early in the game for the first score, but Woodland didn’t add another goal until the 40th minute when Riley Shaw dished to Keri DeBiase in the left side of the box for a 2-0 halftime lead.

“I think we just came out flat,” Woodland coach Joe Fortier said. “Sometimes you take teams lightly, and that’s what it was. It’s a little bit of the loss from Naugy [in the Naugatuck Valley League semifinals], having a week off, and just being flat. You can’t turn it on and off like that.”

Woodland blew open the game in the second half with four goals. In the 44th minute, DeBiase dribbled into the box before firing a shot into the left upper 90 for a 3-0 lead.

In the 51st minute, Steph Dumond got on the board by working into the box and pushing a shot inside the left post for a 4-0 advantage.

Two minutes later, DeBiase completed her hat trick as she dribbled across the box to the right before changing direction and striking a shot inside the left post to make it a 5-0 game.

“Keri’s a special player,” Fortier said. “What makes her special is that she makes everyone around her better with her distribution skills and her defense. When she’s on her game, we’re playing well. I can’t say she’s had a great game and we’ve lost.”

DeBiase added an assist in the 58th minute when she connected with Dumond, who was on the left side of the six-yard box and crossed a shot to the right for a 6-0 lead.

The Hawks’ defense didn’t allow Wilcox Tech any opportunities.

“We have a bunch of veterans in the back,” Fortier said. “Kelly [Boucher] and Kelly [Sherman] saved us against Naugatuck. We always build the defense first, and they’re the rocks of the team. When they’re distributing from the back, that’s when we’re at our best.”

Woodland fell to Coginchaug in the second round game on Monday in Durham. Dumond scored the only goal for the Hawks on an assist by DeBiase. Alma Rizvani saved nine shots for Woodland, which finished the season 13-4-3, the second-best record in school history.

NAUGATUCK — The Naugatuck girls soccer team was familiar with penalty kicks. After all, they already helped the Greyhounds win a tournament game. So there was no reason to feel anything but confident when the ‘Hounds entered penalty kicks with Hamden in last Thursday’s Class LL first round.

But Hamden goalkeeper Katelyn Murphy was just as confident, and she helped the No. 23 Green Dragons upset No. 10 Naugatuck, 2-1 (4-2 PK), to advance to the Class LL second round.

“I just wanted to relax,” Murphy said. “We trained well last practice. I had to be confident.”

After Naugatuck’s Kelly Koslosky and Isabella Verrilli and Hamden’s Ashley Wendland and Ciara Fennelly converted on the first four penalty kicks, Murphy made her first save by pushing Isabelle Moody’s shot off the right post and away from the net.

Rachel Ugolik gave Hamden a 3-2 lead with a line drive to the right side of the net before Murphy prevented another blast from Katarina Gullotta, this time near the left post.

Allegra Nottoli drilled the game-winner into the left side of the net, just out of reach for Naugatuck goalkeeper Kaitlin Carter.

“I was just trying to relax and make sure I kept focus and didn’t let it get to me,” Nottoli said. “I was just so happy. With the adrenaline going, I can’t even put it into words.”

Each of the Naugatuck (13-6) penalty kicks was on target but Murphy’s reads on the final two boots got the better of the Greyhounds.

“They were all confident,” Dunn said of his lineup. “Having [the same scenario] the other day made them confident, but their goalie made some good saves. It’s a 50/50 game sometimes and we just came out on the wrong end. It goes like that sometimes.”

Both teams scored goals in the first half before the last 60 minutes of play went scoreless. Naugatuck took the lead in the 29th minute when Katie Bottinick drilled a free kick from the right side of the 18-yard box that floated just over the leap of Murphy and into the left side of the net.

Four minutes later, though, Hamden (9-8-1) evened the score. Ugolik, who made a number of threatening runs all night, dribbled into the left side of the box, raced past two defenders, and fired it past Carter into the right side of the net.

The teams were deadlocked the rest of the way as both squads had opportunities at the end of the first half, throughout the second half, and in the two overtime periods.

“We came out a little bit flat at the beginning in the game, probably with the emotional letdown of the NVL title game (loss to Watertown),” Dunn said. “We made some changes at the half and held them in through the end of overtime. We just talked about what we needed to do in terms of us being too spread out. We wanted to let the defenders do their jobs and we would be OK.”

Dunn said he considers his first season at the helm of the Greyhounds a success.

“I’m extremely proud of them,” Dunn said. “Coming in as a new coach, to have them accept me and play as hard as they did the whole season, it’s fantastic.”

Woodland’s Lumbardh Pacuku skies above the crowd to corral the ball Monday versus Granby Memorial in the second round of the Class M tournament. Granby Memorial upset the Hawks 2-0.

No. 17 Granby Memorial scored a goal late in each half and put forth a splendid defensive effort to upset No. 1 Woodland, 2-0, on Monday in the Class M second round.

Eric Dietz, who led the state with 36 goals, was held in check all day by the Bears’ (10-4-3) defense.

“This was a good team we played,” Woodland coach Tony Moutinho said. “Their defense was tough. They had two guys on Eric all day and it was tough to penetrate.”

Granby Memorial took a 1-0 lead in the 28th minute when Michael Noyes dribbled into the top of the box and dished left to Brent Goldman, who fired a shot past Woodland goalkeeper Marc Beaulieu and into the right side of the net.

That was all Granby needed, but Woodland (18-1-1) threatened a number of times in the last seven minutes of the first half. Matt Moutinho had two blasts blocked in front of the goal before Lumbardh Pacuku fired just high on a shot from 30 yards out.

Bears goalkeeper David Gottschalk kept the Hawks off the board with 20 seconds remaining when he stopped a Dietz shot with a full-out dive toward the upper 90.

“I don’t even remember what happened,” Gottschalk said. “It’s one of those things that happens and you just look back and say, ‘Wow.’ It feels so great.”

Gottschalk blocked several other shots in the first half and made two key deflections in the second half to preserve the shutout for the Bears, who also benefitted from an own goal with two minutes left.

“We knew this was a quality team and they certainly were a quality team,” Granby Memorial coach Dave Emery said. “But we play in an extremely difficult league (the North Central Connecticut Conference) and we’ve gotten stronger as the year has gone on. We needed to play very well today and that’s what we did.”

Woodland’s Richie Vadala (14) works his way around a Granby Memorial defender Monday as his teammate Eric Dietz (19) runs to help. LARAINE WESCHLER

“Their defense was tough,” Moutinho said. “I don’t know what they used, but it worked well against us. We were a little flat today. Not playing in a week didn’t help, but that’s no excuse. That’s a good team we played.”

Emery said the team’s midfield play helped the defensive effort.

“We sometimes bring extra people back, but we didn’t do that today because we were controlling the midfield,” Emery said. “They weren’t getting a lot of chances. We did a good job of jamming (Dietz) and not letting him get any shots.”

For Woodland, the best season in school history is over with the program still searching for its first state-tournament victory.

“We had a good season,” Moutinho said. “You can’t take that away from us. We played better than I anticipated. But now that we were this far, I thought we could have gone a little farther, especially at home.”

Kinne followed the game plan, kept one of the conference’s best scorers in check and led the Greyhounds to an impressive defensive effort. The moment illustrated the Greyhounds’ progress.

“I put the burden on him,” Nunes said of Kinne. “And our midfield stepped up.”

The ‘Hounds (11-6-1) outplayed an undefeated Woodland (17-0-1) team, but came up short in the final score.

On Oct. 7, Woodland beat the Greyhounds 6-2 in Beacon Falls. The Hawks’ Eric Dietz did the damage with five goals.
Naugy was determined to not let that lopsided result happen again. They succeeded last Saturday.

In a much closer score, Dietz still found a way to beat the Greyhounds, this time scoring a goal two minutes into the game that stood the entire way.

“They held Eric in check today,” Woodland head coach Tony Moutinho said. “He couldn’t get loose.”

Despite the win, Moutinho admitted the Hawks were fortunate.

“We got away with one today,” Moutinho said. “Give Naugy credit. They outplayed us the rest of the game.”

The Greyhounds had won three of four entering the NVL tournament.

Late regular-season victories over Sacred Heart, Torrington and Derby propelled Naugy in the standings, and the quarterfinal victory on Friday was another example of its progress.

The Greyhounds defeated Ansonia, 3-2, the previous day in the quarters. Adam Branco scored two goals while Kinne added another. Anthony Pohorilak made eight saves.

The next day’s match illustrated another step in the right direction for Naugy.

After Dietz’s goal in the semifinal, Naugy kept constant pressure on Woodland and outshot the Hawks, 10-3—it seemed like more.

“One mistake was the difference,” Kinne said.

Although the argument could be made Dietz’s goal wasn’t a mistake—it was a lucky bounce. Dietz collected a rebound and chipped a shot over the keeper for the match’s only goal.

“I just followed [Mike] Segala to the box, the ball came to me, the keeper came out and I chipped it in over his head,” Dietz said.

Naugy’s closest scoring chance came when Ygor Silva lofted a shot from 20 yards out that sailed off the crossbar with under a minute to go in the first half. Woodland’s defense held on.

“We were looking forward to this game,” Nunes said. “We weren’t the same team from the last game [against Woodland]. Give all the credit to Woodland. They have a great season going.”

Nunes indicated that he was pleased with the team’s recent efforts, and they could mean Naugy may be a tough out in the upcoming state tournament. The Greyhounds open tournament play on Friday with a likely home match as approximately the No. 13 seed.

“The kids are believing in everything we’re doing,” Nunes said.