NHS Girls’ Lacrosse—

Hawks Pound Panthers, Fend Off Glastonbury, Crush Crusaders

By Andy Hutchison

Newtown High School’s girls’ lacrosse team, led by Lisa Vendel’s high-scoring ways and a stingy defensive effort, pulled away for a 19-3 win over Pomperaug of Southbury at Treadwell Park on May 7. The Nighthawks then held off Glastonbury, 14-12, in a nonconference battle on May 8, and crushed the Lauralton Hall Crusaders 17-2 on Tuesday.

Newtown carried an 11-1 overall record and top-five state ranking into the middle of this week.

In the win over Pomperaug, Meghan Bridges and Vendel both scored three and Kaitlin Brophy, Meghan Carney, Emma Kingsley, and Kaley Kruger all scored twice. Brophy and Carney both had a pair of assists and Meredith Bridges and Katie Canavan each had a goal and an assist.

Goaltender Celeste Cheung stopped all five shots she faced to hold the Panthers without a goal in the second half. Kelly O’Connor caused three turnovers and the defense was responsible for 11 turnovers, including three interceptions, and scooped 12 ground balls to help the Hawks gain possession.

The advantage of these lopsided wins, of which Newtown has had many in recent years, is that the lesser-experienced players get an opportunity to get a taste of varsity game action.

“It’s just good to see the younger players get a chance to play at the varsity level,” Brophy said.

“It’s great for them to get their feet wet and it’s great for them to play with some of the better players, too, because when you play with the better players they’re getting taught out on the field by those upperclassmen that are advanced and really good teachers, educators out there,” Newtown Coach Maura Fletcher added.

Freshmen Erin Kenning and Tressa Scott and sophomore Meredith Bridges lead a group of strong up-and-coming players who have benefited from these blowouts to get more playing time than they might otherwise see.

“It’s a bit nerve-wracking out there,” said Scott, adding that she wants to perform at high level. She added that it’s fun to be on a winning team and she enjoys the camaraderie.

Then there are those less frequent nail-biter games. The Hawks, who are dominant almost every time out in South-West Conference games, have a few out-of-conference clashes to help test the players and prepare them for the postseason. Newtown narrowly beat Cheshire earlier in the season, fell to Wilton, then defeated Glastonbury.

Vendel led all scorers with six tallies, Meghan Bridges scored three times, and Meredith Bridges and Brophy scored twice each in the win.

“It was a huge win for us,” said Fletcher, whose team built a 13-6 halftime lead before holding off the opposition in the second half by playing kill-the-clock with ball control.

After a 40-minute rain delay just 13 minutes into the game, the Hawks remained focused and controlled the tempo of the contest, Fletcher said.

Glastonbury came out strong early in the second half to climb back into the game, but Newtown held the ball down the stretch and the conservative play paid off in the end, the coach noted. Cheung, backed by a strong defensive effort, made ten saves.

Newtown got back to its SWC dominance on Tuesday in an easy 17-2 clobbering of Lauralton Hall of Milford.

Bridges and Erin Brown both had a pair of goals and four assists, and Carney and Brophy both scored three times. Vendel and Kenning each scored twice and Scott assisted on a pair of tallies in the romp. Cheung made three saves on four shots and Jill Jagoe stopped four of five shots.