By Kim J. Harmon

Down 10-2 after about 30 minutes of somewhat uninspired lacrosse against Staples of Westport, the Nighthawks had a lot of people – who had seen the girls win six of their first seven games – wondering where the intensity had gone.

Oh, somewhere between the final seconds of an 11-4 win over West Haven and the opening face-off against Staples four days later, that intensity had vanished . . . and no one was really blaming the torrential downpour that had delayed the start of that game (even though some may have wanted to).

But that intensity wasn’t gone for good. Oh no. Even down 10-2 after about 30 minutes of somewhat uninspired lacrosse, the ‘Hawks rediscovered that intensity and have been rolling along ever since – with a 10-10 tie against Hand of Madison, a 16-5 rout of Ridgefield, and an impressive 17-13 win over Mercy of Middletown.

“I think the players realized they had to step up that intensity,” said first-year coach Sara Patrick. “And they did. Hand has always beaten us and we go there and play the best game we’ve ever played.”

The win over Mercy put the ‘Hawks at 8-2-1 for the season and officially qualified them for the CIAC state tournament for the third season in a row.

Caitlin Collier scored six goals to raise her career total to 115 (see related story, below) and Sarah O’Sullivan added five to raise her career total to 80. Kate Ryan chipped in with three goals while Jen Logan had two and Tate Hoeffel had one.

Mercy came into the game boasting a 9-1 record, but the ‘Hawks took control of the game right away and jumped out to a 5-1 lead. But Mercy showed why it was 9-1, scoring five unanswered goals to take a surprising 6-5 lead.

But Hoeffel, as if taking matters into her own hands, took a restart right down the heart of the field, cutting through the defense to tie the score at 6-6. Goals from Erin McDonald and Collier served to tie the score and then put Newtown back into the lead briefly, but wasn’t until Collier’s third goal of the game – off a beautiful dump off assist from O’Sullivan – that the ‘Hawks took the lead back for good, 9-8.

Collier scored her fourth goal the open the second half (coming off a restart, when Catherine Foster was whacked in the head with a defender’s stick) and soon added her fifth (off a pass from Logan) to put the ‘Hawks ahead 11-9.

Ryan – who had a career-high six goals in the win over Ridgefield – made her presence known on the next two goals. First, she scooped a ground ball in traffic, passed down to McDonald, who passed down further to Logan for an easy goal. Then Ryan, taking the ball from behind the cage, crossed up front, drew the goalie out of the crease, and then turned to score on an empty net.

When O’Sullivan added her third goal of the season (outrunning the Mercy defense and using a nifty spin and shift of the stick), the ‘Hawks were ahead 14-9.

But were they comfortable?

No.

Mercy scored three unanswered goals to trim the Newtown lead to 14-12 with just over five minutes left to play. But with tension running high, O’Sullivan eased the pressure a little by slicing through the Mercy defense for her fourth goal.

Even though Mercy answered back, Collier and O’Sullivan scored back to back for the 17-13 final.

While the offense was explosive, the defense – including a strong game from sophomore goaltender Diana McNamara, subbing for Sarah Dacey for the second day in a row – was solid enough to hold Mercy off.

The Nighthawks traveled to Darien on Thursday for a 4 pm contest and will travel to Ridgefield on Saturday for an 11 am game. The ‘Hawks will be back on the road Monday for a trip down to Guilford, then will return home to host Danbury on Tuesday.