Field Hockey Team Falls To Pomperaug

By Andy Hutchison

SOUTHBURY — The Newtown High School field hockey team traveled to Pomperaug High to battle the always-tough Panthers in the quarterfinal round of the South-West Conference Tournament on October 29. The seventh-seeded Nighthawks put up a fight, but fell 2-0 to the No. 2 Panthers.

Newtown controlled the ball deep in Pomperaug’s end of the field for much of the early going, and fended off the Panthers before giving up a goal midway through the opening half.

Pomperaug kept the pressure on the Nighthawks, but settled for a 1-0 lead heading into the intermission. The Nighthawks couldn’t get the game tied up, and fell behind 2-0 by the mid stages of the second half as the Panthers continued to pile up the scoring chances.

Newtown was outshot 21-3 when all was said and done. The Nighthawks got strong goaltending from Lauren Sarno, who benefited from strong defensive work by Jess Haitz and Caroline Kingsley.

Newtown was shutout 3-0 by Pomperaug during the regular season, and Coach Amanda Shevlin was impressed with her team’s effort in this most recent clash between the SWC rivals.

“I definitely think that my girls came to play today. We put up a good fight,” Shevlin said.

The Nighthawks ended the regular campaign on a high note, posting a 3-1-1 mark in the final five games to end the year at 6-8-2. Now, Newtown will turn its attention to state tournament play. The state tourney gets underway in the second week of November.

“We’re going to come ready to play — so we’ll see how it pans out,” Shevlin said.