In a game that could best be described as a war of attrition, Matt Parmalee’s goal 49 seconds into the second overtime gave Glastonbury an impressive 8-7 home win over Newtown Saturday afternoon.

The Tomahawks emerged victorious due to a terrific defensive effort. Defensemen Mason Grande and Lucas Finamore hounded Newtown’s offensive players and prevented them from getting any easy looks at the goal, while goalie Jonathan Kaplan was able to pull off some spectacular saves against Newtown attackers. Though Newtown controlled the ball for a majority of play, the trio forced them into playing keep away on offense. The defense kick started the offense on a day when Glastonbury struggled to score.

“Our defense was absolutely tremendous today,” said Glastonbury head coach Mark Landers. “They forced their offense into working extremely hard and didn’t give them any good looks. And Jonathan made same big saves when we needed them.”

The Tomahawks offense could not consistently push the ball against their opponent’s aggressive defense, and like Newtown, basically ended up playing keep away for the entire match. Attack man Chad Britnell was the one Tomahawk who found ways to score.  Britnell scored four goals in the match, three in the second half, both on breakaways and in traffic.

It was Britnell’s goal with 3:37 left that gave Glastonbury a 7-6 lead and ostensibly the victory, before Cory Fisher whipped a powerful shot just past Kaplan with 1:37 remaining in regulation. Many teams would crumble and lose after such a backbreaking goal. Glastonbury dusted themselves off and responded by playing outstanding lacrosse in overtime.

Glastonbury amped its defense up even more in overtime. Despite controlling the ball for almost every second of the first overtime period, Newtown was unable to get off even one good shot. After surviving such a period, a Tomahawks win seemed destined.

Parmalee made that win a reality with 3:09 seconds remaining in the second overtime period. He escaped his defender and came around the right side before laying in the winning shot, setting off a wild celebration from the Tomahawks. Afterwards, the senior made the goal sound easy.

“Our guys were able to draw away my man and I got an open shot on the right side that I was able to make,” he said.

With the victory Glastonbury moves to 8-1 on the season, while Newtown falls to 8-2. It is the team’s fifth straight victory, a stretch which includes wins over powers Staples and East Lyme. Landers believes that the Tomahawks defeat of Newtown showcased the mental toughness that has become their hallmark.

“We’ve been winning games like this all season,” he stated. “Almost all of our games have been close and we understand how to keep our cool late. We’ve been down that road before.”

“This is a win the team is going to feel good about. We haven’t been playing that well lately, and beating a team like Newtown shows how good we can be. I feel confident about our chances going forward.”

Glastonbury will return to CCC competition with a home match against South Windsor on Tuesday before welcoming another tough non-conference squad on Thursday in Cheshire.