Newtown High School’s hockey team skated to a 4-1 victory over Hall-Southington in the Division III state tournament quarterfinals at Northford Ice Pavilion on March 13.

The second-seeded Nighthawks advance to the semifinals, scheduled to be played at Yale University’s Ingalls Rink on Tuesday, March 18. Newtown will face the winner of No. 3 Sheehan of Wallingford and No. 11 Tri-Town of Enfield at either 5:30 or 7:30 pm (check back for details or visit casciac.org for complete tournament information).

"We're very excited about it," said Newtown Coach Paul Esposito, adding that this is the program's first trip to the state semifinals.

In the quarterfinal game, Newtown scored first when Connor Hanley registered an unassisted net-finder, in the second period. The Nighthawks carried a 1-0 lead into the third period before putting the game out of reach.

Jon Lovorn scored two unanswered goals to extend the lead to 3-0. The first tally was assisted by Hayden Savoia and Matt Sabia, and the second was unassisted.

After No. 7 Hall-Southington got on the scoreboard, Savoia got Newtown its three-goal cushion back on a play assisted by Domenic Cartelli and Dan Harrison.

"It was a real team effort tonight. Everybody played their roles," Esposito said.

Newtown outshot Hall-Southington 27-17 and NHS goaltender Patrick McLoughlin made 16 saves. Newtown went 13-4 during the regular season and Hall-Southington went 10-9-1.

The other semifinal matchup features top-seeded Masuk of Monroe and No. 4 EO Smith-Tolland-Windham.