After falling into an early hole on the scoreboard, Newtown High School’s girls’ lacrosse team switched from a man-to-man defense to a zone format and, soon thereafter, changed their fortunes against visiting Ridgefield in the Class L State Tournament’s quarterfinal round, on June 3. Unfortunately for the Nighthawks, Ridgefield’s early 7-1 lead held up in a 14-9 win.

The No. 10 Tigers moved on to face one of their conference foes, No. 3 New Canaan, in the semifinals and No. 2 Newtown saw its otherwise stellar season come to an end. State seedings can be a bit deceptive given strength of conference, and Ridgefield hails from the toughest lacrosse conference in the state, the FCIAC. As an example, all four Class L semifinalists were FCIAC squads, including No. 1 Darien and No. 4 Wilton.

Newtown won 16 of the 25 draws and had its share of possession in the loss to Ridgefield.

“It’s definitely a team we could have hung with. We came out like we were afraid of an FCIAC team. When they saw they could play with them they started playing — just a little too late,” Newtown Coach Maura Fletcher said.

The mind over matter aspect was part of it, and so, too, was Newtown’s strategy. The Nighthawks had a trio of early possessions they could not capitalize on, and the Tigers used their speed to win the man-coverage battles and build an early lead.

“They scored a couple quick ones. I think our team lost a little confidence with those quick goals,” Fletcher said.

Ridgefield built a six-goal cushion by the mid-point of the opening half. Newtown switched to zone and started to slow down the Tigers, and it was 9-3 at the half. Ridgefield scored just 1:13 out of the break and added another tally for an 11-3 lead. Newtown outscored the Tigers 6-3 the rest of the way.

Newtown’s coach was pleased with the effort.

“They played 50 solid minutes. They were pressuring the ball, really scrapping for ground balls. They really gave it their best effort today,” Fletcher said.

Summer Harrell finished with three goals and an assist. Elena Sughrue had two goals. Jules Battaglia had a goal and two assists, Izzy Butler and Bella Gerace both had a goal and an assist, Ava Mitchell had a net-finder, and Erin Phaneuf added an assist.

Harrell had nine draw controls, Allie Bradley had four, and Phaneuf three. Brooke Bulkley scooped three ground balls. Goaltender Alexa Manfredonia made six saves.

Ridgefield goaltender Isabella Crowley made nine saves, seven of which came in the opening half. Gabriella Lauchman had five goals and Caroline Trinkaus scored four in the win.

The Nighthawks were clicking throughout most of the second half. Sughrue took a pass from Harrell and bounced home a shot that got Newtown’s second-half scoring started, making it 11-4 with 18:22 to play. The Hawks answered a Ridgefield tally with two of their own less than a minute apart. Butler scored then assisted Ava Mitchell to make it 12-6 with 14:23 to play. Down 13-6, Newtown kept battling. Harrell stole the ball near midfield and raced in for a tally with 10:59 left. Ridgefield countered with another net-finder. Newtown got the last two. Gerace impressively whipped home a shot while falling down under heavy pressure from the defense, and Sughrue netted Newtown’s last by circling in front from the left side and cashing in.

Newtown lost to just two teams this year, falling to New Fairfield in overtime during a regular-season clash, and again in the South-West Conference championship game.

“They had a great season,” Fletcher said.

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