By Kim J. Harmon

Oh boy, did the Nighthawks ever need a respite on Monday night – and not just because they had spent the previous 24 days traveling up and down and all over the Nutmeg state looking for the schools on the Newtown High School girls’ lacrosse schedule.

Cheshire, Brookfield, New Milford, Middletown, Madison – the ‘Hawks have become almost nomadic in the 2001 season and were badly in need of some home cookin’ after going 1-4 on a five-game road trip.

They got it on Monday. It was only the second time the ‘Hawks have played on their home field this season (and the last time before New Milford comes in here on Saturday, May 12), but they were comfortable enough to slip easily past Brookfield, 10-4.

It was the second time the ‘Hawks have beaten the Bobcats this season (the first was a 14-2 decision on April 17 in Brookfield) and the win boosted their record to 4-4 overall, 3-1 in the South-West Conference.

The game, though, didn’t go quite as smoothly as coach Sara Patrick would have liked. Although she said her ‘Hawks played a clean game, the referees were throwing their flags around as if it were laundry day at Newtown High School. A number of yellow cards and red cards were dished out to both teams, with the ‘Hawks earned a grand total of seven.

Still, Ellie Champagne scored four goals (three of those in the second half) to lead Newtown Mary Bell scored a pair of goals while Angela Shannon, Morgan Pacheco, Erin McDonald and Elissa Boushell all scored solo goals.

It was a big win, too, because it came after losses to New Milford (13-9), Mercy (18-7) and Hand (17-7) that erased what had been a pretty good start to the season.

In the 18-7 loss to Mercy, the ‘Hawks got two-goal efforts from Champagne, McDonald and Pacheco and a one-goal effort from Kelly Shpunt. In the loss to Hand, Champagne and Pacheco both scored two goals while Jen Chuddy, McDonald and Alison Boyle all came up with goals. McDonald was also credited with an assist.

The ‘Hawks began the first leg of a three-game road trip on Thursday when they traveled to New Fairfield for a 3:45 pm game. On Friday, the ‘Hawks will be in Ridgefield for a 4 pm game and then will be in Redding on Thursday, May 10, for a game against Joel Barlow before returning home on Saturday, May 12, for a 10 am contest against New Milford.

GOAL SCORING

 

Players       Goals

Ellie Champagne       20

Erin McDonald         17

Mary Bell      9

Morgan Pacheco       9

Kelly Shpunt  4

Meg Anderson         2

Jen Chuddy    2

Sarah Whalley 1

Meg Johnson  1

Alison Boyle  1

Angela Shannon        1

Elissa Boushell         1