Some things remain the same, and some things change. In the case of Newtown High School’s girls’ lacrosse team, both apply. The Nighthawks, as always, are the team to beat in the South-West Conference — in fact, they’re going for the 11th straight SWC title — but a new leader is in place to try to get the Nighthawks back to the top.

Amanda Mastera takes over for Maura Fletcher, who retired after completing a decade of dominance.

“It’s a tough act to follow but it’s certainly a challenge I’m willing to take, and it’s going to be a fun year,” Mastera said while her team practiced at Treadwell Park this past week, on perhaps the most springlike day of the cool-thus-far start to the campaign.

Mastera, a New Canaan High graduate, who spent six years as an assistant coach with Greenwich High, played lacrosse at Regis University in Denver. She inherits a team that may be accustomed to winning, but will have some shoes to fill following the graduation of ten players. What’s more, conference rivals have closed the gap in recent years, with the likes of Brookfield, New Fairfield, and Joel Barlow of Redding giving Newtown some tough games (and even a couple of losses) after the Nighthawks thoroughly dominated SWC opponents for seasons.

“Everybody wants to have a winning season. We expect to have a winning season and we want to improve,” Mastera said.

A strength of the team that Mastera noticed early in the preseason is defensive work, including how well the players slide and talk to each other. “On attack, we have some young firepower,” the coach added.

Newtown’s captains are Eliza Eggleston, Clare Hebert, and Hailey Trudell. Top players also include defender Celia Gold, attack/midfielder Brianna Sclafani, Julia Wiberg, who is strong on draws, Julia Sughrue, who is a key player in the draw circle, midfielder Nevan Gattey, and freshman goaltender Lizzy Hodge.

Newtown will jump into the fire with what Mastera expects will be her team’s toughest test, in game one. The Nighthawks open the slate with a 7 pm visit to Brookfield in a rematch of last year’s title game. Brookfield, arguably, is just as much the team to beat; the Bobcats, after all, were the top seed a year ago after beating Newtown in the regular season.

The Hawks will visit FCIAC foe Trumbull on Saturday, April 11, and will trek to SCC opponent Cheshire two days later — both are 6 pm starts. Newtown’s first home game is set for Tuesday, April 14, when Bunnell of Stratford comes to Treadwell Park for a 4 pm clash.