It’s always a tough pill to swallow when teams are eliminated from the playoffs. Even harder for Newtown High School’s girls’ soccer team was not qualifying for one of the postseason tourneys last fall. Newtown Coach Marc Kenney notes that his team’s absence in the South-West Conference bracket marked the first time in the program the Nighthawks failed to get into the SWC dance.

Newtown, which posted a respectable 6-5-5 record, qualified for the Class LL state tournament and, despite being the No. 22 seed, pushed No. 11 New Milford — one of its conference rivals — into overtime, and eventually penalty kicks, before falling in the first round.

Kenney believes his team needs to be tougher — both physically and mentally — to do more this season.

“Last year, I think that was our downfall. We let a few games slip away that we should have won,” the coach said.

In addition to all of those ties, Newtown fell short in a pair of one-goal nail-biters. A bounce here or there was the difference between the Hawks not getting into the conference playoffs, and Kenney believes his squad returns with the mindset necessary to qualify this October.

“We’re moving on; it’s over with, it’s done with. We don’t dwell on it,” just like the Hawks don’t stay focused on a championship the season after winning as Newtown did at the state level in 2012, Kenney said.

The Nighthawks will have to overcome the loss of eight graduates, but Newtown’s coach is optimistic given the experienced players he has back in the mix.

Key players for the Nighthawks, in addition to senior captains and midfielders Maddy Sieber and Maddie Pirone, are senior midfielder Alana Murray; junior forwards Julia Sughrue and Makenna Cerney, and junior goalkeeper Megan Doyle; along with sophomore midfielders Sarah Houle and Grace Corcoran, and sophomore defender Cassidy Kortze.

The season gets started with the regular-season opener when New Fairfield visits Treadwell Park for a 3:45 pm visit on Friday, September 11.

Read more about the Hawks in the September 11 print edition of The Bee.