Newtown High School’s girls’ lacrosse team made it three consecutive wins over unbeaten teams, following up a 15-10 win at Masuk of Monroe on April 12 with a hard-fought 14-13 victory over visiting Cheshire, at Blue & Gold Stadium, on April 16, and a 15-2 drubbing of Stratford-Bunnell, at Treadwell Park, two days later.

In the win over fellow Class L foe Cheshire, Summer Harrell sparked the offense with six goals and two assists, Bella Gerace scored three times, and Elena Sughrue hit the back of the net twice. Jules Battaglia, Gia Corso, and Erin Phaneuf each had a goal. Izzy Butler registered an assist.

“Big win — huge win for us,” said Newtown Coach Maura Fletcher, whose team dropped the Rams to 5-1 overall this spring.

Newtown scored four unanswered goals late in the opening half to build a 9-5 lead and held a 9-6 advantage going into halftime. Cheshire hung close throughout the second half and trailed just 13-12 when Gerace converted a free position shot with 2:53 remaining for what proved to be the difference-making tally. The Nighthawks chewed some clock before yielding a Cheshire goal with just 27 seconds left, giving the visiting Rams hope.

The ball went out of bounds off the ensuing draw, forcing a redo and taking some precious time off the clock, and Phaneuf battled for and got possession on do-over to help the Hawks seal the win. When all was said and done, Phaneuf had five draw controls, Harrell had six, and Gerace had eight.

“The girls in the middle of the field did a good job with possession and coming up with some big loose balls at the end,” Fletcher said.

The Nighthawks attempted to throw off Cheshire’s offense by implementing a zone defense with occasional man defense schemes, which Fletcher said her team struggled with at times.

“They’re really a strong man offensive team,” Newtown’s coach said of Rams’ offense.

Newtown surrendered its highest goal total of the season but the offense put up double digits for the fifth time in as many contests to begin the slate.

That trend, along with taking down fellow unbeatens, continued with the convincing win over Stratford-Bunnell. In past seasons, each Stratford school had its own squad and traditionally struggled, but the newly-formed co-op came in ranked first in the Class L state rankings at 6-0, including a victory over always-strong Joel Barlow of Redding, which caught the attention of the Nighthawks. The Hawks, though, made it look easy en route to improving to 6-0 overall themselves.

Butler logged six goals, Harrell had three, and Sughrue a pair of net-finders. Battaglia, Gerace, Corso, and Phaneuf also hit the back of the net. Battaglia, Sughrue, and Corso each had two assists. Gerace and Harrell both had five draw controls.

NHS is to face another unbeaten foe, SWC rival Weston, on Thursday when Weston visits at 5:30 pm.

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