By Kim J. Harmon

BROOKFIELD – It should forever be known as . . . The Rally.

Down 6-2 in the early stages of the second half and not playing all that well, the Newtown High School girls’ lacrosse team needed to do something – and in a hurry, too – to still have a shot at winning the first-ever South-West Conference championship.

So they mounted a rally.

A textbook rally.

And when it was over, the Nighthawks had shocked New Milford (which had beaten Newtown twice during the regular season) and captured the SWC championship with a stunning, 12-8 victory.

“Honestly, I knew we could do it,” said co-captain Erin McDonald, who scored three goals, “because we had done it before . . . well, like we did against Masuk.”

That’s right – two days before, in the SWC semi-finals, the ‘Hawks rallied back from a 7-3 deficit to defeat the Panthers, 10-9, in what may be remembered as Newtown’s most thrilling girls’ lacrosse game ever.

So they knew how it was done.

“That was a scare,” said co-captain Megan Anderson, “and a wakeup call for our team.”

And the ‘Hawks really woke up against New Milford after Michelle Verrastro scored on a shot that deflected off Newtown goaltender Diane McNamara (the Most Valuable Player of the SWC Tournament).

Yep, the ‘Hawks were wide awake after that.

“I think we needed to get our heads into the game,” said Anderson. “We had talked about how much we wanted it and I felt we had the confidence to do it.”

McDonald started the rally (oops, The Rally) – and really cranked opened the floodgates – by scoring her first goal of the game just moments after Verrastro had put the Green Wave on top, 6-2.

Ellie Champagne scored her second goal of the game fewer than 30 seconds later and New Milford quickly answered fewer than 60 seconds after that. Then McDonald and Champagne scored back-to-back goals and all of a sudden the ‘Hawks had trimmed the deficit to just one, 7-6.

In the first six minutes of the second half, the two teams had erupted for six goals.

And it didn’t stop.

“We realized then we could do this,” said McDonald.

With 16:43 left, McDonald tied the score at 7-7 when she took a pass from Kate Capito, dodged into traffic in front of the crease, and fired a shot that somehow navigated through the crush of defenders. With 11:51 left, Angela Shannon put the ‘Hawks ahead for the first time with a nifty shot from about 10 yards out that glanced off goaltender Emily Pribanic.

It just kept going.

Mary Bell scored two goals in a row – one with 10:10 left to play and the next with 5:10 to go – that put the ‘Hawks ahead, 10-7, and left the New Milford players openly questioning what was happening.

With 3:28 left, the Green Wave showed signs of life with a goal resulting from a loose ball in front of the cage. But the ‘Hawks quashed those signs when Morgan Pacheco went literally from one end of the field to the other – her stick held way out in front to prevent someone from knocking the ball loose – to score her second goal of the game.

Shannon scored the capper with just one second left on the clock on a back-handed shot.

And there it was . . . The Rally.

“We had the heart to do it,” said McDonald, “and we worked hard.”

Champagne and McDonald finished with three goals apiece while Pacheco, Bell and Shannon finished with two goals apiece. McNamara made 14 saves.

And the ‘Hawks, who have now son six in a row while lifting their record to 12-6 overall, had three days to savor their first championship – the first championship ever, remember – while waiting to take a trip to Avon for the first round of the State Coaches Tournament.

No More Rallies

There was no more magic left.

The Nighthawks found themselves down 6-3 heading into halftime of their first-round game against Avon in the State Coaches Tournament. Of course, the ‘Hawks have become accustomed in the past few weeks to facing these types of deficits.

But this time, they could not overcome it.

The ‘Hawks fell, 11-8, to Avon and saw their fine 2001 season finally come to a conclusion.

They fell, too, despite a mammoth effort from Champagne, who scored six goals (finishing with 55 for the year). Erin McDonald chipped in with a goal (giving her 53 for the season), as did Kelly Shpunt.

The ‘Hawks finish up at 12-7.

FINALSTATISTICS

2001

 

Goals

 

Players    Goals

Ellie Champagne     55

Erin McDonald       53

Mary Bell                24

Morgan Pacheco    18

Kelly Shpunt           9

Jen Chuddy             8

Megan Anderson     8

Angela Shannon      5

Meg Johnston          2

Alison Boyle            1

Kate Capito             1

Elissa Boushell         1