NEW MILFORD — Threatening to knock off the South-West Conference champion New Milford Green Wave, Newtown High School’s girls’ soccer team made things interesting before falling 2-1 in a penalty-kick heartbreaker in the first round of the Class LL state tournament on November 4.

Seeded 22nd in the bracket, Newtown was the underdog, but the No. 11 Green Wave knew to expect a close battle after the familiar SWC foes played to a 1-1 tie during the regular campaign. They played to another 1-1 deadlock through 80 minutes of regulation and another 20 minutes of OT before the host Wave won 3-1 in a best-of-five round of PKs. Brenna Kelly scored Newtown’s lone goal during the kicks.

“We’re disappointed in the outcome — not in the way we played,” Newtown Coach Marc Kenney said. “I think we certainly deserved to win. New Milford did too.”

The Nighthawks scored first in regulation, when Sarah Lynch took a feed from Alana Murray and found the back of the net only 54 seconds into the second half. The goal could have served as a back-breaker for the Green Wave which had a bulk of the opening-half scoring chances, including one that hit the post, but New Milford regrouped and evened the score on a Jenna Barron header with 27:36 to go.

Newtown goalkeeper Alyssa Ruefenacht caught a break when the Green Wave saw its bid for a go-ahead tally carom off the post in yet another close call, with a dozen minutes left in regulation. With just 2:33 left, Ruefenacht came up with a diving save to preserve the tie.

Neither team mustered a shot on goal in overtime. Newtown’s Jess Keller, set up by Lynch, and had perhaps the best chance — late in the second OT period — but her initial shot was blocked before a rebound went high.

Kelly scored on Newtown’s second opportunity during the PKs, but New Milford netted each of its three chances and a save by goalkeeper Colleen Lynch to begin the fourth round sealed the victory. Both netminders made crucial saves, with Ruefenacht stopping nine shots in regulation.

Kenney noted that the Wave is a very athletic team but thought his squad did a nice job of offsetting New Milford’s quickness and agility with solid positioning, which included players pinching in to help each other when the circumstances called for it.

“I think we did a good job of adapting to how they play,” Kenney said.

Newtown came into the campaign with a new-look lineup after graduation claimed a bulk of last year’s starters. One of the few returnees with significant varsity experience, Lynch, missed most of the season with a foot injury before battling through pain to contribute in just three games at the end of the campaign.

“She’s been the heart and soul of this program,” said Kenney, fighting back tears as he talked about his player. “She refuses to quit. She finds a way and she works hard — and she wants to win.”

The Nighthawks went 6-5-5 this year, and were competitive throughout the season, despite missing the SWC playoffs. New Milford went 10-3-3 before catching fire in the conference tourney.

“We’re super-young,” Kenney said. “It was a year of growth and we certainly grew this season. We’ll build on this.”