By Kim J. Harmon

MONROE – Only 11 days ago, Newtown battled through a bruising 2-2 tie with Lauralton Hall and walked off the field fully expecting the two schools would meet again – and settle their differences – in the finals of the South-West Conference tournament.

But the Nighthawks are not going to get there. No, their quest for their first league championship in seven years (a co-championship with Weston in the old Western Connecticut Conference) came to an unexpected end in Monroe with a 2-1 loss to Masuk on Tuesday in the SWC semi-finals.

The blow that ended it all came with 2:28 left to play in regulation – in a game that appeared destined for overtime – when the Pantherettes’ Lindsay Raithel pushed a ball through a scrambling Newtown defense and through the hands of goaltender Kate Bouteiller.

It was a solid, well-played possession game between two teams as evenly matched as any two in the league.

And despite the loss, the ‘Hawks got some stunning performances – most notably from Kendall Zimmerman, who had a tremendous game in the midfield and allowed the ‘Hawks to keep the offense moving in their direction. Then there was Colleen Davis streaking down the wing with a ball on her foot, Shannon Rouse muscling her way to gain possession of a free ball, Allison Frobey with her wickedly strong throw-ins, and Erin “McD” McDonald scampering near the sidelines.

Strong performances, but collectively not enough to hold off the Pantherettes.

Newtown took a 1-0 lead in this game when Davis took an Oswald cross near the far post and headed it past Masuk goaltender Jenna Cappillieri. Oswald had originally nailed a corner kick into the box, but the ball was kicked back towards the end line, where Oswald crossed it back to Davis.

Late in the first half, with just 1:13 left to play, Masuk’s Christina Martinik tied the score with a blistering shot from outside the penalty box that curled left and under the cross bar, leaving Bouteiller nearly defenseless.

Although it appeared as if Newtown maintained momentum in the second half, the ‘Hawks were unable to get close to breaking through the Masuk defense. The game appeared heading for overtime (which would have led to two, 10-minute sudden death periods) when Raithel scored the go-ahead goal.

Masuk had dropped a ball into the penalty box and the Newtown defense was unable to clear it. As it was loose, Bouteiller was forced to come out and try a sprawling save but couldn’t quite corral it. The ball was pushed to the end line and the goal quickly followed.

The ‘Hawks made a couple advances toward the Masuk goal in the final 2:28, but couldn’t come close to salvaging their SWC title hopes and had to watch the Pantherettes celebrate when the final horn sounded.

The loss dropped the ‘Hawks to 13-2-2 on the season. The Pantherettes, meanwhile, went to 13-2-2 and moved on to face Lauralton Hall (3-1 winners over Joel Barlow) in the SWC finals.

Newtown reached the semis by virtue of a 2-1 win over Brookfield in the quarterfinals last Saturday. Rouse and Davis both scored in the win, with the Davis goal breaking a 1-1 tie with 4:33 left in the second half.

Rouse opened the scoring in the first half with a brilliant shot from outside the penalty box. She had gathered in a ball, turned and headed down the wing while being covered by two defenders. Somehow, she was able to blast a shot while having only a limited view of the goal.

The shot went high, left and slipped under the crossbar.

Brookfield tied the score at 1-1 with 23:41 left in the second half when a takedown in the box led to a penalty kick for the Bobcats. Later, freshman Carrie Lipnick made a game-saving play while standing inside the right post, heading out a shot that was aimed for the back of the net.

With 4:33 left to play in regulation, Davis raced down the left wing with the ball, had a moment of indecision about whether to go with her left or right foot, and then drilled a high shot under the bar to win the game.

Newtown had beaten Brookfield, 1-0, during the regular season on a goal by Zimmerman.

With a 13-2-2 record, the ‘Hawks figure to have a pretty high seed in the CIAC Class L tournament next week, more than likely earning a home game for the opening round.