Newtown High School's girls' lacrosse team won its final two regular season games to carry an overall record of 8-8 (3-3 in South-West Conference Division I play) into the postseason. Newtown earned the No. 4 seed in the SWC playoffs, and is slated to host No. 5 Brookfield in the quarterfinals on Thursday, May 19, beginning at 5 pm. The Nighthawks defeated Brookfield 6-5 back in early April.

The Hawks capped off the regular slate with a 13-3 triumph at Newington in a nonconference clash on May 16.

"Strong win for the end of regular season," Newtown Coach Amanda Mastera said. "Girls moved the ball fast on transition and were patient on attack. We took good hard shots and did an impressive job defending in the midfield. We dominated on the draw."

Charli Condon led the way with four goals and added an assist, Julia Sughrue netted a pair of goals and set up five others, Hanna Rosenthal scored twice and assisted a tally, Brianna Sclafani scored twice, Alex Futterman had a goal and an assist, Dori Farley and Alison Kelleher each scored, and Jess Maturo added an assist. Tess Davenport made four saves and Lexy Leidlein had a stop.

Newtown, two days earlier, bested visiting Bethel 18-7 in a makeup game from earlier in the spring. Mastera said her team dominated right off the draw with clean ball movement and smart passes.

"We have really hit our stride at this point in the season," said Mastera, whose squad was coming off a tough 12-10 loss at Simsbury on May 12, and won three of its final four games, having beaten Masuk of Monroe 9-7 on May 10.

Against Bethel, Sclafani and Rosenthal each had five goals and Futterman played a role in eight tallies, logging four goals and four assists; Rosenthal added an assist. Nevan Gattey had three goals and an assist, Condon had two net-finders to go along with a pair of assists, and Julia Wiberg and Sughrue also scored. Davenport made six saves.

The Nighthawks have a fairly young team and they've come a long way since the start of the season. Team members have become more familiar with one another, Mastera said.

"Our overall game sense has improved, too," said the coach, noting that players are finding teammates with the best shooting angle, draw controls have improved, and the midfield transition has gotten better an better as the season has unfolded.

"It's a reflection of how we're growing as a team and maturing," Mastera said. "I think we've just really hit our sweet spot right now, and everything's coming together."