Newtown High School’s girls’ lacrosse team had some good playoff-like clashes against larger schools, hosting Staples of Westport on April 11 and Conard of West Hartford on April 14. Although these games marked the first two setbacks of the season for the Nighthawks (a 9-6 loss to Staples and an 8-7 defeat to Conard), the Newtown squad took quite a bit of positive — including a couple of milestone achievements — out of the matchups.

“Tough competition always makes you better. It’s good to play teams out of conference,” Newtown Coach Stephanie Suhoza said.

Especially when NHS is a Class L program and the opponents are from Class LL.

“We gain a lot of confidence in them — even in a loss,” Suhoza added.

What’s more, draw specialist Brooke Bulkley reached not one, but two century-mark milestones, netting her 100th career goal in the loss to Staples and winning her 100th career draw against Conard.

“It’s crazy — I didn’t even know my stats ‘til they told me,” said Bulkley, adding that her draw success is a team effort with the likes of Blake Heim-Sherwood, Natalie McLean, and Abby Ihlefeld getting in position to gain control off Bulkley’s draw battles.

Assistant Coach — and former Nighthawk and Fairfield University standout — Rylee Harrell, who finished her Fairfield U career ranked third in draw controls (177), the most-ever by a player from outside the circle, also helped Bulkley with adjustments on the draw. Bulkley said she changes up her approach, sometimes taking draws left-handed and other times right-handed and changing strategy depending on how counterparts approach the draw.

“Girls’ lacrosse is all about possession,” Suhoza said. “It’s like 90 percent of the game — especially without the shot clock.”

Which loomed large in the 8-7 nail-biter to Conard. The game was tied before Conard scored with 3:51 to play. Conard won the ensuing draw and took the remaining time — nearly all four minutes of it — off the clock with a game of keep-away.

The shot clock has been added to Connecticut High School basketball and eliminated the opportunity for teams to sit on late leads. The National Federation of State High School Associations approved a New York State Public High School Athletic Association request to experiment with a shot clock for boys’ and girls’ lacrosse in 2025. New York became the first sanctioned state to implement a high school lacrosse shot clock (80 seconds for boys and 90 seconds for girls). Connecticut remains without a shot clock — at least for now, but it seems the coaches and players would be in favor of it being put into place here in the Nutmeg State.

“If we’re up I wouldn’t want a shot clock but it would definitely improve the pace of the game,” Suhoza said. “Tonight would have been nice.”

Especially considering the Nighthawks were very much in the game and Conard wasted away the final third of the 12-minute fourth quarter — not exactly a small chunk of clock time.

Although teams with possession and a late lead are in a good spot is not to say they don’t have some work to do in order to seal the victory. Newtown managed to force Fairfield Ludlowe into a late-game turnover, which allowed the Nighthawks to overcome a one-goal deficit for an 8-7 win of its own in the season opener.

“It would absolutely help the game,” said Newtown’s Mo Murphy, who was among the defenders all but helplessly unable to do anything about Conard eating the clock time.

“We press as much as we can,” said Murphy, whose team basically had to just hope for an errant pass and turnover by the opponent; Conard passed the ball back and forth and mixed in a little movement but did not do anything to jeopardize its possession.

“When we have the lead we try to do that too. That’s exactly what you want to do,” Murphy acknowledged.

Newtown pulled its goaltender for an extra field player in an effort to create a turnover to no avail. Especially in girls’ lacrosse, which is not as physical as boys’ lacrosse, it is especially difficult to force the other team into coughing up the ball. That is not to say that boys’ lacrosse would not also benefit from the stall tactic being wiped out by a shot clock; slashes and penalties can pile up late in boys’ games with one team desperate to get the ball and the other willing to basically sit on it for minutes at a time.

Nonetheless, the Conard game was a good test for the Nighthawks. They were coming off a hard-fought loss to Staples which came right after a 14-2 win over host Brookfield on April 10. Conard gave Newtown a taste of state playoff action early on. The game was close throughout with Conard holding a 4-3 lead at the half and going up 5-3 early in the third quarter.

Nighthawk goaltender Emily Sachs made ten saves to keep things close. Natalie McLean scored to bring the Hawks to within one with 6:55 left in the third, Bulkley deposited a rebound to tie the score with 4:02 remaining in the quarter, and McLean netted her fourth of the game, one-timing a pass from Jenna Lagan with 27 seconds left in the third, for a 6-5 Hawk edge. Conard beat the buzzer to tie things at six apiece heading to the fourth.

Sachs made some saves early in the fourth, keeping the score even, and McLean’s fifth net-finder of the night gave the Hawks a 7-6 lead with 7:52 to go. Conard tied the game, the fifth deadlock of the evening, with 6:02 left, then went ahead to stay with just under four remaining. Bulkley finished with two goals, three ground ball scoops, and a trio of draw controls; and Ihlefeld had two ground balls.

Against Brookfield, Bulkley had four goals, two assists, and a pair of ground balls; Heim-Sherwood had three goals and three ground balls; and McLean netted two goals and had two assists and three ground balls. Newtown picked up another win with a 17-5 triumph at Immaculate of Danbury on April 15.

Sports Editor Andy Hutchison can be reached at andyh@thebee.com.