The chances kept coming and, finally, persistence paid off. Julia Sughrue followed up a rush into the 18-yard box by Sarah Houle and banged home the only goal of the night as Newtown High School's girls' soccer team blanked visiting Holy Cross of Waterbury 1-0, under the lights at Blue & Gold Stadium, on September 17. With the win, the Nighthawks improved to 3-0-1 heading into Tuesday's match with Brookfield.

Newtown generated scoring chance after scoring chance, racking up 15 shots toward the Holy Cross goal, compared to just a handful of opportunities by the visitors.

Makenna Cerney, Grace Corcoran, Emily Neave, Emma Curtis, Karsen Pirone, Houle, and Sughrue kept knocking on the door, Olivia Caplan launched a long-range shot that the Holy Cross goalkeeper got her fingers on with a leap. The corner kicks - six when all was said and done - piled up, especially in the second half.

Sughrue's goal came with 19:37 left. Until that point, the Nighthawks had nothing to show for their hard work and almost complete domination as they kept the ball on Holy Cross's half of the field for a majority of the night.

"We got a lot of chances in this game," Sughrue said.

"It's frustrating only to the extent that you want some sort of payback for your effort, your opportunities," said Newtown Coach Marc Kenney, adding that the good news is that with all of the possession time Newtown had, the opponent wasn't generating chances.

"We're doing great. I'm super-impressed with the way we're playing," Kenney added. "I'm most impressed by their willingness to get better as a team, as individuals."

The Nighthawks, Cerney and Sughrue point out, are working well together. "Tactically I think we're good at playing wide," Cerney said of one of the keys to establishing so much pressure on the opposing defense when the Hawks are on their game.

Kenney notes that his team members will need to be able to adapt to different styles of play to continue to achieve success.

Newtown was coming off a 3-1 road win over New Fairfield on September 15; Neave, Sughrue, and Curtis all scored in the triumph.

"I think, overall, this is a good week for us," said Sughrue, whose team Blanked Bethel 2-0 on September 13, after opening the campaign with a 1-1 tie with Notre Dame-Fairfield four days earlier.

The Nighthawks, after visiting Bunnell of Stratford on Friday, September 23, beginning at 7 pm, will have back-to-back home contests. They'll host Watertown on Saturday, September 24, at Blue & Gold, also at 7 pm. Weston comes to town on Tuesday, September 27 and the teams will square off at Treadwell Park beginning at 4 pm.