Newtown High School’s boys’ lacrosse team is striving to improve as the season unfolds and maximize its collective potential by the time things wrap up later this spring.

“Our goal this season is to get better every day and be playing our best team lacrosse at the end of the season. We have a very fast and athletic group of young men, who work very hard. These attributes will be essential in getting us to the next level,” Coach Scott Bulkley said.

“We are big, fast, and hungry. We have a great mixture of young and veteran players who have waited for a long time to show everyone how good they can be. They understand that it is going to take a lot of hard work to achieve that goal,” the coach added.

Captains are Jake Bulkley (long stick middie/defense), Matt Jacobs (attack), and Colin Breslin (attack).

Other key returnees are Colby Harrell (midfield,) Elijah Williams (midfield), Sam Steare (attack), Andrew Swierbut (midfield), Andrew Jacobs (defense), John O’Sullivan (defense), J.J. Haddick (defense), and Markus Paltauf (goalie).

The Nighthawks will lean on these players to lead them in the South-West Conference and state playoffs, but will also rely on some tough competition to help them improve.

“We always look at New Fairfield, Weston, and Joel Barlow as our biggest challenges in SWC. In addition, we are playing Daniel Hand, Cheshire, Stepinac N.Y., Scarsdale N.Y., and Glastonbury for our out of conference games. All of these teams will push us to where we need to go,” Bulkley anticipates.

Newtown's Light The Night Fundraiser/Pediatric cancer awareness game will take place on Saturday, May 14, when Hand visits Blue & Gold Stadium at 3:30 pm. During this game, as well as the girls' contest against Glastonbury at noon that day, lanterns will be sold for $5 so fans can light that night to support the cause.

The regular season begins Saturday, April 9, when Cheshire visits at 6 pm.

Sports Editor Andy Hutchison can be reached at andyh@thebee.com.