NEW FAIRFIELD — Strategy and preparation worked for Newtown High School’s girls’ lacrosse team in a convincing 16-7 win over visiting Joel Barlow of Redding in the South-West Conference Tournament quarterfinals on May 19. Unfortunately for the Nighthawks, they could not figure out a way to overcome the New Fairfield Rebels, losing 16-9 on the road in the semifinals, on May 23.

The Nighthawks looked to contain standout scorer Ava Romanello but struggled to do so, with Romanello netting four goals. The effort to focus on her also opened the door for other New Fairfield players, and Heather Clark led the scoring with five tallies.

“We just didn’t have anyone that could mark her. She’s a really strong, fast player,” Newtown Coach Maura Fletcher said.

This was quite a close game, back and forth, through one half of play. The Rebels scored twice late in the opening 25 minutes to turn a one-goal deficit into a 7-6 halftime advantage.

Newtown fell behind by three goals early in the second half before pulling to within one at 9-8 on Bella Gerace’s free position shot tally with 19:13 to go. The Rebels started to take over the possession game and scored the next three goals. Erin Phaneuf scored for Newtown to make it 12-9 with 10:03 to go.

It was a physical game, as was the 10-9 overtime win by New Fairfield when the teams met in the regular campaign, and the Rebels were issued their fourth yellow card of the game, for dangerous contact, meaning they had to go the final ten-or-so minutes down one player on the field. But the Rebels got possession and quickly scored for a 13-9 lead. Newtown was issued its fourth yellow, and another infraction had the Nighthawks down in manpower late in the game. The Rebels took advantage and pulled away.

“Tonight’s loss hurt,” said Fletcher, adding that this was almost like the championship round given these are arguably the best two teams in the conference.

Weston, which advanced to the pinnacle game with a 7-5 win over Masuk of Monroe, Newtown, and New Fairfield all had just one loss in conference. Newtown had beaten Weston during the regular season, but Weston got the top seed after school names were drawn from a hat since the teams all remained even after tiebreakers were implemented. Newtown got the third seed because of the head-to-head defeat to the Rebels.

In the playoff defeat to New Fairfield, Elena Sughrue and Phaneuf both scored three times, Izzy Butler had two goals and two assists, Summer Harrell had two assists, and Brooke Bulkley added an assist.

Newtown made some key adjustments to win the first-round playoff game. It was no coincidence that most of the goals the Nighthawks scored in the win over Barlow were assisted.

The Nighthawks had been held to a season-low game total of goals but managed a 6-5 win at Barlow on May 2. Newtown changed its strategy and it paid dividends as the Hawks scored more goals in the opening half of the postseason matchup alone, building a 7-2 lead.

Three goals were scored on free position shots and of the 13 scored during regular game play, 11 were assisted as Newtown shared the ball with strong passes both in transition and when set up near the Barlow net.

Barlow’s zone defensive setup slowed Newtown’s usual drive to the goal style of play in the regular season, Fletcher said.

The Falcons’ defense was no issue for Newtown’s offense in this clash.

“We worked on breaking down the zone, passing the ball at least six times before we looked inside just to wear down the defense. We waited for the great look and not just a look,” Fletcher said.

“They play a backer so we really tried to spread out on offense and move the ball,” said Phaneuf who had two goals and an assist in the win.

The backer’s job is to back up the defender who is guarding the ball, taking away one-on-one, drive to the goal scoring chances.

“It’s a lot of fun when you play together as a team and it all comes together,” Phaneuf said.

Newtown surrendered the first goal before scoring six unanswered. A tally by Gerace, set up by Bulkley with only four seconds left before the break, answered Barlow’s second goal.

The Hawks struck 1:20 into the second half on a Phaneuf goal in transition, and kept pouring it on.

Gerace had five goals, Sughrue had two goals and three assists, Butler netted two goals and had a trio of assists, and Jules Battaglia and Bulkley joined Phaneuf in the two goal, one assist club. Harrell recorded three assists.

The Nighthawks are ranked second in the Class L standings behind only Darien. They will look to get back to winning ways in the state playoffs, which get underway Tuesday, May 31 (time and opponent to be determined, but the Nighthawks, who went 14-1 during the regular season, will be the home team).

Sports Editor Andy Hutchison can be reached at andyh@thebee.com.