By Kim J. Harmon

With expectations running kind of high, some had looked forward to the September 24 meeting with Pomperaug as the date the Newtown High School field hockey team would really show what it was all about in 2001.

But the Nighthawks – who reached the CIAC Class L state tournament last year and played a spectacular game in Simsbury – were 0-2-1 when Pomperaug came to town on Monday and were not only looking for their first win, but also their first goal.

They got the goal . . . 222 minutes into the season.

But not the win.

The visiting Panthers proved once again that it remains the class of the South-West Conference when they defeated the Nighthawks, 3-1. Three first-half goals – all within the first nine minutes – stunned the ‘Hawks.

Newtown fell to 0-3-1 and went into a Wednesday afternoon game at Joel Barlow still looking for that first win. The ‘Hawks opened the season with a 0-0 tie in Bethel, then dropped 1-0 decisions to New Milford and Masuk before entertaining Pomperaug.

The Lady Panthers got started right away. At the 26:14 mark of the first half, an offensive rush found a seam through the left side of the Newtown defense. Lori Mastrontuono belted a hard shot past Newtown goaltender Heather Morgan for the first score.

At the 21:52 mark, Pomperaug made another rush downfield, managing to drop a striker behind the defense. The ‘Hawks seemed to dodge a bullet when a weak initial shot was saved by Morgan, but Nicky Pickman followed up with a hard blast to the left side of the cage.

Just 46 seconds later, Pomperaug was back in the cage. The ‘Hawks got beat down the wing again and Erica Blinstrub had the wherewithal to flip a shot past Morgan to give Pomperaug a quick, 3-0 lead.

While Morgan was tested hard, she also prevented things from getting a whole lot worse. With 5:58 left to play, she made a beautiful glove save on a flip shot from the left side and, with 3:09 left, came up with a great kick save (also taking out a stick) when Pomperaug had a one-one-one opportunity at the cage.

Morgan made five saves on the afternoon.

Jess Swainback also had a solid game in goal for Pomperaug. She made a couple of strong saves to stop Newtown – one with 10:16 left in the first half, when the ‘Hawks came within a mere two inches of putting one into the cage.

They did manage to beat Swainback in the second half, though, at the 17:59 mark. With the ball dropping into the strike circle, there was a crush of bodies pressing toward the cage. Sloan Schnell was knocked to her knees and still managed to push the ball past Swainback and into the cage for Newtown’s first goal.

But that was all.

After falling behind, 3-0, just nine minutes into the game the ‘Hawks played pretty inspired the rest of the way. It made be the springboard they need – with Joel Barlow, Immaculate and Brookfield coming up on the schedule – to get back to the CIAC state tournament.