Newtown High School's girls' soccer team avenged last year's South-West Conference tournament exit at the hands of Joel Barlow of Redding with a 2-0 triumph over the Falcons in this year's SWC tourney quarterfinals, at Blue & Gold Stadium, on October 28.

Emma Curtis assisted Sydney Howard for the first goal, and Curtis was set up for the second net-finder by Carly Swierbut.

In the quarterfinal-round win, the second-seeded Nighthawks scored only 2:34 into the game, and padded the lead almost the same amount of time out of the halftime break, as Curtis found the net 2:35 into the second half. No. 7 Barlow will have to wait for the start of state tournament play to return to game action.

Coach Marc Kenney's Nighthawks advanced to the SWC semifinals. The Hawks have focused on scoring early in games to avoid increasing the likelihood of the daunting task of playing from behind.

"They've certainly embraced it. It's much easier to play a game when you're winning," Kenney said.

Curtis missed practice during the week, while nursing an injured back, and played through pain, effectively at that, in the win over Barlow.

"It was hard, but it motivated me more," Curtis said of being out there despite not feeling 100 percent. "I knew I had to work ten times harder."

"The kid knows how to play. She's a winner," Kenney added.

And, thanks in large part to the efforts of Curtis, the Nighthawks were winners.

With the triumph over Barlow, Newtown advances to the Monday, October 30, semifinals. The Nighthawks will face No. 6 Weston. The game is scheduled to be played at Newtown High, beginning at 7 pm.