NHS Boys’ Lacrosse—

Hawks Bounce Back Against Brookfield

By Andy Hutchison

After falling 4-3 in a late-season meeting to Brookfield, things were not looking so good when the Nighthawks fell behind 1-0 1:40 into the South-West Conference Tournament boys’ lacrosse quarterfinals on Saturday. But the Nighthawks dominated the rest of the game en route to a surprisingly easy 13-5 win.

Newtown, the tournament’s third seed, advanced to the conference semifinals on Wednesday (after The Bee sports section went to press) and Brookfield, the No. 6 seed, will now have to wait for state tournament action to return to game play.

The Nighthawks doubled their goal total from the regular-season game in the first quarter alone for a 6-1 lead after one period.

A key to the success was that Newtown had a 16-4 advantage in face-offs.

Tim Dalton had three goals, and Ryan Korth, Dan Hebert, Colby Summerlin, and Lewis Thompson each had two, and Hebert added three assists. Brandon Body made 12 saves in goal and was thrilled to get all of the offensive support.

“When we’re playing our game on defense and we’re hitting people, and we’re flying to the ball, and our offense is sticking their shots, nobody can stay with us,” Body said.

Newtown Coach Glenn Adams said the big difference between the two meetings with Brookfield was that his team did not get into sync offensively the first go-around, but was sharp from the start in the SWC game.

“This time we ran our offense. You saw, right from the start, we were getting our looks,” Adams said.

The coach commended the efforts of all of Newtown’s defenders for minimizing Brookfield’s offensive chances, and credit everyone for doing their part to move the ball in transition and set up scoring chances.

“I think we played as a unit real well,” defender Max Nacewicz said.

The fact that this game had more meaning than the regular-season clash also may have contributed to Newtown’s turnaround.

“It’s playoff time now. They know there’s no tomorrow if they lose, or if you don’t come out and play your best,” Adams said. “I think we rebounded very well.”