In a battle of two of the top South-West Conference teams, Newtown High School's girls' lacrosse squad rallied to defeat visiting Joel Barlow of Redding 11-8 at Blue & Gold Stadium on Monday night.

The Nighthawks trailed 6-5 early in the second half of a back-and-forth battle, then netted six unanswered goals to seize control.

Newtown improved to 8-2 overall and 7-0 in SWC play, and the Falcons fell to 6-6 and 6-3 in the conference.

Newtown trailed 5-4 at the half and got even for the third time in the game on a Dylan Zahansky tally 1:20 out of the break.

Barlow answered 2:05 later for its last lead of the night. Zahansky, assisted by Charli Condon, bounced home a tying net-finder 1:26 later, making it a 6-6 game with 19:09 to play. Alex Futterman was assisted by Condon for the go-ahead Newtown marker, making it 7-6 with 17:47 remaining.

Julia Sughrue found Condon on the back door with a long-range pass and Condon finished the play with 16:16 left for an 8-6 lead.

The Hawks extended the lead on another Zahansky goal, set up by Keeley Kortze. Zahansky's fourth tally of the night, assisted by Sughrue, made it 10-6, and a Sughrue goal capped the 6-0 run with 6:38 left, giving the Hawks a commanding 11-6 lead.

"I think just the confidence with the ball and patience with the ball is what allowed us to score those unanswered goals," Newtown Coach Maura Fletcher said.

Barlow scored twice in a span of 49 seconds late in the first half but Newtown got possession and ran off most of the final nearly three minutes of game time with stall ball.

In addition to Zahansky's team-high four goals, the Hawks were led by Futterman with three and Sughrue with and Condon with two apiece. Condon racked up four assists, Futterman had two helpers, and Keeley Kortze, Nevan Gattey, and Sughrue also set up goals. Rylee Harrell and Alison Kelleher had four and three ground ball scoops, respectively.

"I think we found success in being patient and talking to each other," Sughrue said. "We had a really tough week last week and I think we kept with it, we kept preparing."

Newtown, in the last week of April, suffered its first two setbacks of the campaign, falling 4-3 to Ridgefield in overtime and 13-4 to a Fairfield Warde team that beat Barlow by just three goals.

"It was definitely a good win for us," Fletcher said of the triumph over Barlow.

Goaltenders Catie Gregory and Tess Davenport split time in net against the Falcons.

Newtown got strong defensive contributions from Cassidy Kortze, Lauren Carrino, and midfielders Keeley Kortze and Sughrue.