Newtown High School’s girls’ soccer team is the top seed going into the South-West Conference. Heading into the Wednesday, October 24,  regular-season finale between the Nighthawks and host New Fairfield, at 6 pm, only four points separated the top six teams in the bracket.

“Anyone can win it. That says a lot about our conference,” Newtown Coach Marc Kenney said.

But Kenney likes his team’s chances as well as those of the next.

“This group is really amazing — unselfish. They’re loyal to each other; they’re loyal to me — and pretty good on the field, too. We can score, we can play defense, and we have strong goalkeeping. All the pieces are in place here for a strong postseason run in both tournaments.”

The second being the state playoff. First things first, the SWC quarterfinals are slated to begin on Friday, October 26. Newtown will host No. 8 Joel Barlow of Redding, which the Hawks defeated 3-0 during the regular season. Newtown’s first-round game, at Blue & Gold Stadium, is at 7 pm.

After playing second-seeded Masuk of Monroe to a scoreless tie, the Hawks won nine straight games and carried an overall record of 12-1-2 into the finale against New Fairfield.

Newtown defeated visiting Kolbe Cathedral of Bridgeport 10-1 on October 18, then blanked host Bunnell of Stratford 5-0 on October 20. Both games provided a chance for some of the younger team members to get substantial playing time.

Against Kolbe, Karsen Pirone and Katie Sailer both had two goals and an assist. Keeley Kortze, Ally McCarthy, Shea Murphy, Catie Teixeira, Elena Sughrue, and Sophia Guevera all scored. Kaitlyn King, Katie Rowan, Sughrue, and McCarthy added assists.

In the victory at Bunnell, NHS built a 4-0 halftime lead. Emma Curtis had a goal and an assist, Pirone scored twice and had two assists, and Colleen Phaneuf and Olivia Oltran also hit the back of the net, assisted by Julia Gerace.