Newtown High School’s field hockey team is in the midst of a three-game winning streak. The Nighthawks, after beating Brookfield on September 16, won their second straight game on September 18, holding off visiting Immaculate of Danbury for a 2-1 victory at Treadwell Park. The Hawks traveled to Watertown for a nonconference battle on September 23, and made it three in a row with a 1-0 blanking of the hosts. Newtown improved to 4-2 overall.

Against Immaculate, goaltender Casey Demers made ten saves and Caroline Tanner and Emily Campbell scored to help the Nighthawks hold on for victory.

Midway through the second half, Demers made a nice save to keep the shutout intact before Immaculate finally capitalized moments later. The Mustangs kept pressing and appeared, momentarily, to tie the game with 7:10 left, but an apparent goal was called back when officials ruled the ball went in off a foot. Just a few minutes later, Demers came up with a game-saving stop during a one-on-one with an Immaculate attacker.

“It was a lot of action. It makes me a little nervous but I’m always happy to back up my defense because they take good care of me,” Demers said.

Demers helped out the defense and the defense helped out Demers in this game. Newtown Coach Stephanie Paproski pointed to the efforts of Kayla Disibio, Brooke Hadgraft, Megan Goyda, Lauren Zimmerman, Megan Kelleher, and Caroline Chocholak in the back.

“Defense played a great role in their success today, but she had some amazing saves,” Paproski said.

Demers thought the team fed off its previous game’s success, a 2-0 victory over Brookfield two days earlier.

“I think that just really motivated us and gave us the confidence to come out here today and win,” the goaltender said. “I think that was a big turning point for our season.”

After all, the Nighthawks turned the tables on their South-West Conference counterparts after falling 2-0 to the Bobcats in the season opener.

Paproski said better communication and teamwork were keys to the turnaround in the rematch.

Strong defensive play continued in the Watertown contest, and Newtown cashed in on a penalty corner opportunity when Zimmerman scored off an assist from Chocholak.

The Hawks will look to continue their winning ways when they visit New Milford on Friday, September 26, and go to Weston on Tuesday, September 30. The team’s next home contest is a Wednesday, October 1, clash with Masuk of Monroe, set for 7 pm at Blue & Gold Stadium. Newtown defeated host Masuk, 3-1, for its first win of the campaign, on September 10.

Paproski believes her team has the potential to be among the best in the conference and have a chance to contend for a championship as one of the playoff teams.

“As long as they keep playing hard they should have enough confidence to get there,” Paproski said.