Down 8-2 at halftime Newtown High School's girls' lacrosse team was on the verge of being out (of the South-West Conference Tournament).

The Nighthawks made some key adjustments and battled back for a 9-8 win over visiting Joel Barlow of Redding in the May 16 quarterfinals.

Summer Harrell scored the last two goals, among her four in the game, capping the comeback by scoring a free position goal with 6:53 remaining.

Each of the last two tallies came a player up with Barlow serving penalties.

Fouls and turnovers by NHS led to Barlow building a seemingly commanding lead, capitalizing on a trio of free position shots off calls against Newtown in the opening quarter.

"We were called for a lot of fouls in the first half," said Newtown Co-Coach Maura Fletcher, adding that the Hawks had to adjust to the officials and switched from man to zone defense. "We just needed to eliminate that."

Another thing the Nighthawks changed up in the third and fourth quarters was their handling of the ball.

"A lot of unforced errors for us, a lot of mental errors — mental mistakes," Fletcher said of Newtown's turnovers in the first two quarters.

The Hawks took good care of the ball in the second half and cashed in on its possessions led by Brooke Bulkley and Harrell in the draw circle.

Bulkley netted two goals and an assist; Jules Battaglia and Ava Mitchell both had a goal and an assist; Nikki Kaplan notched a goal; and Jen Socci recorded an assist.

Nighthawk goaltender Alexa Manfredonia was not tested often in the second half but did come up with a few key saves to give her team a chance to complete the rally and hang on.

Newtown trailed 7-1 late in the opening half and scored with just eight seconds left only to see the Falcons answer as time expired.

The Hawks pulled to within 8-6 in the third and scored three times in a span of 3:27 in the fourth to finally take the lead. Manfredonia made two huge saves on in-close chances late in regulation to help Newtown advance.

"Luckily we dug ourselves out of a hole," said Fletcher, who along with Co-Coach Steph Suhoza, will lead the Hawks into Monroe for a rematch with the top-seeded Panthers in the Tuesday, May 21, semis (game time set for 6 pm but subject to change).

The teams met earlier in May and in a similar comeback effort Masuk nearly overcame a 10-2 halftime deficit before falling 12-10 to NHS. It was Masuk's lone defeat in conference play this spring.

A spot in the Thursday, May 23, championship game is on the line.