By Kim Harmon

NEW FAIRFIELD – The Lady Nighthawks might be considering themselves lucky for leaving New Fairfield with a 2-2 tie, considering they were down 2-0 at the half, but in the back of their minds they will be remembering a phantom offsides call late in the second half that almost surely cost them a victory.

With the score all knotted up and the Newtown offense heaping an intense amount of pressure on the New Fairfield defense, the time was winding down in regulation and the Lady Nighthawks were making another attack on the box.

But just after Colleen Davis corraled a ball and slipped behind the defense into the penalty box, leaving her all alone with the goaltender, a whistle on the near side blew and stopped what would have been in all likelihood the defining play of the game.

Offsides.

It was just one of many missteps by the referees in a tough, physical game down in New Fairfield on Wednesday. But the Lady Nighthawks can’t be too worried about that offsides call because it was their play in the first half which put them in the predicament to begin with.

Although the new offense installed by coach John Kostelis has really been hitting its stride in the last couple of games, there were moments in the first half when it just wasn’t clicking. And when it wasn’t, New Fairfield – which went very strong to the ball, especially on defense – was able to turn it around for an attempt on the goal.

Midway through the first half, a shot dropped into the box. Newtown goaltender Kate Bouteiller converged on the ball, but was beaten to it by the New Fairfield forward. The two collided and went down, but the New Fairfield player was quicker to regain her feet and rolled a shot to an unguarded net for a 1-0 Lady Rebels lead.

Still, the short passing game was getting Newtown in position to score, but a tough New Fairfield defense forced the Lady Nighthawks to only punch in lollipop shots with little zip. The first real shot the ‘Hawks managed in the first half came from Jessica Oswald, but it was blocked at the near post.

Soon after that shot, the Lady Rebels raced the ball back up field, taking advantage of the wings, and knocked a shot past Bouteiller, who did manage to slow the ball down. Nevertheless, New Fairfield had a 2-0 lead.

Early in the second half, New Fairfield threatened to make the score 3-0, but the crossbar denied a hard smash from the top of the box.

Soon after, Newtown got on the board for the first time. Moving the ball through the middle, through a clogged New Fairfield defense, Morgan Haines gained control and tapped a pass up to Rouse. Rouse got bumped hard but still managed to get a foot on the ball, rolling it under the diving goalie for the score.

The offense continued to berate the New Fairfield defense but something always turned the ‘Hawks back. Finally, on a corner kick, Oswald struck a hard cross right to the center of the box, finding Colleen Davis who – despite being hit in the box – headed the ball to the far post for the tying goal.

The offense became even more furious as the half wound down but, in the end, it was the officials that stopped them cold. Two five-minute overtime periods were played with a lot less tension and no change in the final result.

It was a much better, much tougher game than the Lady Nighthawks had the night before when they roughed up New Milford, 5-0. In that game, Davis scored a pair of goals while Rouse, Erin Doyle and Oswald all had one apiece.

The real thriller, though, was last Friday down in Redding.

Despite an explosive first half, in which Newtown carved out a 3-2 lead over the Lady Falcons of Joel Barlow, the second half became all about defense and it took overtime to come up with a winner in that one.

The winner? Newtown, thanks to a direct kick by Rouse just over three minutes into the extra session. Rouse had two goals in the game, as did Davis. Kim Helfer provided an assist on Davis’ first goal.

As of Wednesday, the Lady Nighthawks rested their record at 4-1-1.