By Kim Harmon

There oughta be a law . . . a law that says you simply cannot play as well as the Lady Nighthawks did on Wednesday night and still walk off the field with a tie.

But that is the way of the world, the way of field hockey, that despite barraging the goal with shot after shot, punishing the defense and the goaltender, the ‘Hawks and the Lady Falcons of Joel Barlow finished all tied at 1-1.

It was a great game from the perspective of the Newtown fans, but somewhat frustrating from the perspective of the coach.

“Yes, I am pleased,” said coach Kathy Davey. “Now you see how we can play. But I’m tired of not scoring. We had our opportunities.”

Oh, opportunities heaped upon opportunities. Right from the opening touch, it was clear this would be a different game and a different performance. The offense began pressuring the Joel Barlow goal almost immediately, setting the Lady Falcons – long one of the perennial powerhouses of the Western Connecticut and South-West Conferences – back on their heels.

In the first half alone, the Lady Nighthawks had one ball roll along the end line, only to be knocked away by a desperate Barlow goalie. They also had two other shots come within inches of kissing the line and going over.

All for naught.

And, as fate would have it, the Lady Falcons – who did not pressure the Newtown goal nearly as much – scored the first goal. Shortly after Newtown had two near-miss opportunities, the Lady Falcons punched the ball down the field with a quick strike attack to take a shocking, 1-0 lead.

But that didn’t set Newtown back at all. Just a couple minutes later, the ‘Hawks moved the ball down field and pounded at the Barlow defense – one hit after another rebounding off the goalie – until Caitlin Collier found a seam and knocked one into the cage to tie the score at 1-1.

It didn’t seem like it would end there, though. Newtown continue to aggressively attack the cage and the Barlow defense but defense a furious attack in the final three minutes of the second half, they were unable to get another ball into the cage.

And there was the tie.

With the draw, Newtown moved its record to 1-3-2 on the season. It’s only win thus far was a 1-0 decision over Bethel.