Dogies go out on a positive note
The Dogies wrapped up their 2025 season on Friday with a rematch against the Trailblazers in Torrington. After playing a makeup game against the Goshen County team a week ago that was fraught with challenges, the Dogies were looking to have a better showing this time around.
Head coach Sally Hoover was very pleased to see her squad go down fighting, and finish with a closer score than they finished with at home. Though it was a 1-5 loss for Newcastle, it was an improvement from their 1-7 loss previously, and the Dogies only allowed Torrington one goal in the second half.
“The score from the game doesn’t sound all that great, but the boys were hustling and just playing really hard,” Hoover said. “We had a good first 15 minutes, but then Torrington’s aggressive style of play kind of got to us and got in our heads.”
The Dogies’ game fell apart a little bit and the ‘Blazers used the frustration they caused to get on the board at 15 minutes into the contest, then scored three more times to go into the half with a daunting 4-0 lead.
“The boys weren’t handling the trash talk, and our center ref struggled to move, so he wasn’t a factor to be able to regulate some of the things that were happening on the field,” Hoover said. “At half we just told the boys that they needed to brush it off, have fun and just play soccer for the last 40 minutes of the season.”
In the second half, the Dogies took their coach’s advice and started to have fun, resulting in much better soccer being played, according to Hoover.
“They were marking better, they were communicating, they were laughing and just having fun playing soccer,” Hoover said. “We had one missed mark with 23 minutes left on the clock, and Torrington got one past Damian (Ankeney), but then we held them out.”
With 15 minutes to play, Cole Erb sent a long shot from almost the half that soared over the head of the keeper into the back of the goal to get the Dogies on the board.
“The goalie was out too far and that’s what happens in those types of situations,” Hoover said. “Cole was so excited that he did a back flip!”
Ankeney had only nine saves on the day, however, according to Hoover, those were very nice saves for the freshman.
“We had a lot of shots that were just off the mark and were as close as you can get without them being on goal,” Hoover said. “So, it was a good game to end our season on, even though it was a loss. They played hard until the end, and just to have a team that can struggle like that in the first half and then turn things around in the second is rare.”
In reflecting on the season, Hoover emphasized the tremendous growth her team showed over the last three months.
“From the way we started the season to the way we ended the season is like night and day,” Hoover said. “Hopefully the boys are excited so that we can start next year like we ended this one.”
The Dogies will graduate five seniors in Caleb Hoover, Caden Esposito, Ben Carter, Nick Lopez, and foreign exchange student Levy Shultz. Coach Hoover is anticipating three freshmen to be joining the ranks next year, so she is looking to recruit for the 2026 season.
NHS Boys Soccer
Newcastle @ Torrington 5/16/25 1-5
Cole Erb: 1-1 shot on goal
Caiden Humphrey: 0-1 shot on goal
Damian Ankeney: 9 saves