Woodland boys beat Naugy, will play for NVL title

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Woodland will face Watertown for the NVL title on Tuesday night after the Hawks' 1-0 win over Naugatuck in Saturday's semifinals. Woodland tied and beat the Indians in two regular-season meetings. RA ARCHIVE

WATERBURY — Eric Dietz scored two minutes into the match and the Woodland Hawks moved one step closer to earning a Naugatuck Valley League title with a 1-0 victory over Naugatuck on Saturday afternoon at Municipal Stadium.

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.

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

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

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.

Woodland defeated Naugy 6-2 earlier in the season. Saturday was much closer.

“We were looking forward to this game,” Naugy head coach Art 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.”

The Hawks will face Watertown on Tuesday night at 5 p.m. for the NVL title at Municipal Stadium.