The Newtown High School field hockey team finished the regular season with a bang, winning its last two games to qualify for the Class L state playoffs. The team finished with a record of 7-9.

The last two games were both hard fought wins against Brien McMahon of Norwalk and Bethel. Newtown beat McMahon 3-2 on October 20 then beat Bethel 2-1 on October 22 — both at Blue & Gold Stadium.

Newtown’s win over Bethel, which came on Senior Night, pushed the girls into the postseason and the Nighthawks hope it sparks a long postseason run.

“Winning our last game really gave us the confidence that we need to move forward in states. We have the determination to continue our season so with that and the confidence from the past two games hopefully we can surprise some people,” said senior captain Caroline Tanner, one of the scorers in the win against Bethel, along with junior Brianna Scalfani. Senior Caroline Chocholak also put in a good shift, helping the team on both sides of the ball.

Although the girls has a bumpy season, senior Haley Trudell believes that the recent wins and the bond they’ve created will lead to some postseason wins.

“We all just have a good bond with each other. We spend so much time together that we’re like family by the end of the season and that translates onto the field and helps us play as a team,” Trudell said.

This field hockey family will have to overcome another difficult challenge as the players will face a higher-seeded opponent in states. But, senior captain Emily Campbell says the team is ready for this as she thinks that the bond they made will help them transition into postseason success.

“I felt our season was all around a great effort from everyone on the team. Although our record may not show it, everyone on the team learned how to use each other to highlight their strengths and we improved so much as a team throughout the season,” Campbell said.

“I believe that our season had its ups and downs this year, but we worked together to figure out our strengths as a team and finished our last two games in victories. As we await to see who our first opponent in states is, the team has been working hard to create and improve strategy,” Newtown Coach Stephanie Paproski said. “The experiences from our season played a huge part sculpting our team and will create advantages for us as we move into this postseason.”

State tourney qualifying round action begins on November 3 with first round games on November 5. Seedings and matchups will be announced at casciac.org on October 31.