Better Competition For NHS Girls’ Lacrosse—

Outcomes Remain The Same — For Now — But Changes Could Be On The Way

By Andy Hutchison

REDDING — In the end, it was the same old familiar, all too disappointing for the opponent, result: Newtown High School’s girls’ lacrosse team earned yet another win over a South-West Conference counterpart. Things for the Nighthawks may be changing, though, as the team had to fight to the finish to keep its four-year-old winning streak against conference rivals intact with an 11-10 win at Joel Barlow on May 6.

The victory was a hard-fought bounce-back effort following a 14-9 loss to unbeaten Wilton out of the FCIAC — a game in which the Nighthawks had a late first-half lead — two days earlier.

Newtown Coach Maura Fletcher’s teams have, for the most part, thoroughly dominated SWC teams throughout the years. The six-time conference champions, before the Barlow game, had one other tough in-conference test, which it passed in a 13-11 win over New Milford. Newtown had outscored seven other conference foes a cumulative 124-32. The Nighthawks extended their winning streak against conference opponents to 74 with the win over Barlow, and last lost to an SWC in 2006 when New Fairfield knocked off Newtown. Talk about dominance.

Fletcher schedules nonconference games against teams including some tough FCIAC foes each year, in part because the level of competition she’s looking for just hasn’t been there in the SWC. The Nighthawks haven’t beaten an FCIAC opponent since 2006, and have yet to solve FCIAC and state powerhouses New Canaan, Darien, and Wilton — the latter of which the Hawks face every spring.

The Nighthawks saw Wilton reel off five quick goals before halftime and continue that momentum in the second half to break a tie and pull away. Otherwise, the Hawks were right there with Wilton.

“I feel like we’re finally rising to their level,” Newtown’s Katie Canavan said of FCIAC competition, adding that that it won’t be long before the Nighthawks beat one of those out-of-conference opponents.

Newtown’s closest SWC game a year ago was an eight-goal triumph over Brookfield. This year’s close games with New Milford and Barlow, along with the fact Newtown held a lead midway through its game against unbeaten Wilton, may be a sign of some changes: Competition is improving in the SWC, and Newtown is also getting more competitive, itself, with those tough FCIAC schools.

“I hope things are changing in the SWC — that teams are getting better — because I’d rather have games like this all day long than the one-sided 10-, 12-goal differentials,” Fletcher said.

“They are definitely stepping up,” Newtown’s Kaitlyn Brophy said of SWC teams. “Barlow is a perfect example. They’re ten times better than they were last year.”

Newtown, with the win over Barlow, improved to 10-2 overall (the only other loss than the Wilton setback came to fellow FCIAC team New Canaan). Barlow, meanwhile, fell to 6-3 overall.

As for the early dominance Newtown had with Wilton before watching the game slip away, “Five or six years ago … we would go into a Wilton game just hoping to hang with them, and the difference is now we really believe we can beat them,” the coach said.

Just as Barlow believed it could solve this Newtown team that had defeated it by eight or more goals in meetings in each of the previous three seasons.

The Falcons jumped out to leads of 4-1 and 7-3 before the Nighthawks clawed to within a goal late in the first half. It was 8-6 Barlow at the intermission and Newtown finally grabbed the lead, 9-8 with 11:46 to play. Erin Brown scooped up a loose ball, after Kristie VosWinkel’s free possession shot clanked off the post, and scored the go-ahead-to-stay goal. Just 16 seconds later, Emma Kingsley gave Newtown a 10-8 advantage. Erin Kenning extended the lead to 11-8 a few minutes later and Barlow scored two late tallies to make it a one-goal game with just 3:01 to play.

The Falcons got possession off most of the first-half faceoffs, before Newtown draw-taker Brophy made an adjustment and her teammates did a better job boxing out, Fletcher said. Barlow ended up winning 17 of the game’s 26 draws, but Newtown had the advantage in ball control in the second half.

“We didn’t come out nearly as intense as we should have. We were forcing it too much on offense and we were too lackadaisical on defense,” Brophy said. “When we play as a team there aren’t too many teams that can stop us.”

Because of that dominant reputation Newtown has developed, Fletcher has pointed out, other teams are really aiming to take down the Hawks.

“Coming into any game against a team like Newtown you just want to give a 100 percent effort,” said Barlow Coach Joe Sopko, adding that he was proud of the Falcons for making a game of it against Newtown. “They [the Nighthawks] came back. They showed their talent and skill.”

Fletcher was particularly pleased with the play of Kaitlin VosWinkel, Brophy, Kelly O’Connor, Anna Northrop, and Cassie Ekstrom.

Meaghan Carney led Newtown with four goals and an assist and Brophy had two net-finders and one helper. Jill Jagoe and Celeste Cheung both had three saves as they split playing time in goal. Barlow goalie Allie O’Hara made ten saves. The Falcons hustled to loose balls and did a good job of contesting the Hawks on every Newtown possession, and had a 25-22 ground balls scooped advantage.

“They look really, really good this year,” Canavan said of the Falcons. “The SWC is getting more competitive every year.”

Newtown maintained its winning ways in a 14-1 win at Notre Dame-Fairfield. Kristie VosWinkel scored four goals and added a pair of assists. Carly Ferris and Alexa Powell both netted hat-tricks, and Emily Maher, Katelyn Kean, Paige Murphy, and Carly Sullivan all scored. Cheung made eight saves.