A pair of late-game goal-saving plays - one by a defender and another by the goaltender - and a tie-breaking tally off the stick of Nevan Gattey with 2:09 to play sent Newtown High School's girls' lacrosse team to a 6-5 win over visiting Brookfield, on a blustery April 5 afternoon at Treadwell Park.

With the win, the Nighthawks evened their record after dropping a 9-8 nail-biter to nonconference opponent Trumbull three days earlier.

Gattey bounced home a free position shot for her second goal of the game and the defense held on after Brookfield won the ensuing faceoff and threatened to again tie this back-and-forth game.

Tied 2-2 at halftime, the contest saw a trio of Newtown leads answered by the Bobcats.

Brookfield, twice in the late stages of the second half, had free position shots with an empty net because Newtown goaltender Caroline Caporale was out of the circle at the time of her teams defensive violations. Defender Ali Paynter raced to get her stick on a shot and deny a goal. On the second Brookfield opportunity, Caporale got back to catch a shot headed for the far corner with only about ten seconds to play in the game.

Newtown Coach Amanda Mastera was thrilled with the way her team performed.

"Their perseverance in the midfield and patience on attack was really key in this game," the coach said.

Mastera was especially pleased with the defensive work of Brittany Meisenheimer, Cassidy Kortze, Lauren Carrino, and Paynter, and added that moving Megan Kelleher up from defense to midfield paid dividends because of her aggressive play in getting to balls off the draw.

Alex Futterman and Julia Sughrue both scored twice in the win. Sughrue's second net-finder, which gave NHS a 4-3 lead, was made possible by a nice setup by Julia Wiberg. After the Bobcats evened the game at 4-4, Futterman circled around from behind the net and scored. Sughrue's bid for the hat-trick and a two-goal Newtown cushion clanked off the crossbar, allowing the Bobcats to even things and set the stage for Gattey's game-winner.

Against Trumbull, Charlee Condon led the way with three goals, Futterman scored twice, and Brianna Sclafani, Gattey, and Sughrue all hit the net.

After coming up a goal short in the opener, it was important for the Nighthawks to get into the win column, Mastera said.

"I think you want to set the tone for the season and you want to make sure morale is high," she said.

Especially given the stretch of tough games Newtown is in the midst of playing. The Nighthawks, after hosting Bethel on Thursday, will host Hall of Hartford at Blue & Gold Stadium on Saturday, April 9, beginning at 3 pm.

"This is an intense week for them," Mastera said.