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Newtown High School's girls' lacrosse team overcame a three-goal deficit and, down two early in the second half, reeled off seven unanswered net-finders to seize control and defeat Weston 16-12 in the South-West Conference championship game, at neutral site Joel Barlow of Redding, on May 24.

The top-seeded Nighthawks, who were unbeaten in SWC play this spring, got seven goals and three assists from Most Valuable Player Julia Sughrue, and five goals and an assist off the stick of Alex Futterman.

"It feels amazing. I have no words to explain it. We worked so hard for it all season, and for it to come together feels great," Futterman said.

No. 2 Weston led 8-6 and the half and extended its advantage, making it 9-6 only 31 seconds out of the break. Trailing 11-9, the Nighthawks caught fire. Futterman circled around in front of the net and scored the first of those seven consecutive Hawk goals with 18:51 to play. Sughrue found the back of the net just 35 seconds later to tie the score, and Futterman made a fake then shot and scored with 15:12 left for Newtown's first lead since late in the first half. Sughrue notched the next three, and the Hawks started to play stall ball. Dylan Zahansky's goal with 5:30 remaining made it 16-11.

Zahansky scored twice, and Alison Kelleher and Nevan Gattey also logged goals. Kelleher added an assist. Newtown freshman goaltender Catie Gregory made seven saves.

This was Newtown's first appearance in the title contest since winning its tenth SWC crown in a row in the 2014 season, the year Coach Maura Fletcher stepped down. Fletcher returned to coach this season and picked up right where she left off.

"It feels awesome - just as good as the first time," the coach said.