Girls’ Lacrosse Team Extends Winning Streak To Five

By Andy Hutchison

Newtown High School’s girls’ lacrosse team, after a two-game losing skid, has reeled off five consecutive wins to carry a 7-2 overall mark into Thursday’s scheduled game with Hall of Hartford (after The Bee went to press).

The Nighthawks, this past week, outlasted South-West Conference foes New Fairfield and Pomperaug of Southbury. New Fairfield visited chilly, windy Blue & Gold Stadium on April 27 and saw the Hawks prevail 11-7. Newtown was led by Julia Trudell with four goals and Meaghan Brophy with three. Erin Kenning and Meredith Bridges both added two net-finders in the win.

Newtown Coach Maura Fletcher was pleased with the defensive effort, particularly that of Cassie Ekstrom, Riley Wurtz, and Kaitlin VosWinkel, along with goaltender Celeste Cheung who made seven saves. Ekstrom had six interceptions and Wurtz came up with three. Caroline Kingsley and Trudell had seven and four takeaways, respectively. Kingsley had seven ground ball pickups and Wurtz scooped five grounders.

Fletcher would like to see her team get off to faster starts in games, as it seems to take the team a little while to get in sync from game to game. “We’re going to continue to work at that. … Not throwing away passes, just taking care of the ball a little bit more,” Fletcher said.

The Nighthawks followed up the New Fairfield win with a 19-11 win over Pomperaug, on the road, on Monday. Brophy was on fire with seven goals, Erin Kenning had four goals and an assist, Tressa Scott scored twice and added two assists, and Meredith Bridges scored twice and added two helpers to lead the offense. Ekstrom and Scott came up with seven and five ground balls, respectively. Cheung made 13 saves.

Newtown hasn’t lost to an SWC opponent since back in 2006. The team’s biggest win of the year, arguably, was the 9-7 win at FCIAC power Wilton on April 24, Wilton’s first loss of the season. Newtown, which has dominated the SWC with seven straight conference titles under its belt, has struggled in state tournament play, with FCIAC foes often ending its season throughout the years.

“I think that boosted their confidence,” Fletcher said. “I think that win they picked up from Wilton is going to help us along the way.”

The Nighthawks will visit another tough FCIAC team, Ridgefield, on Saturday, May 5.

They return to Blue & Gold to entertain Weston on May 8. The Nighthawks play road games at Startford and Glastonbury, May 10 and 12 before playing their final home game, May 15 against Bunnell of Stratford. The regular season ends with a May 17 visit to Monroe to take on Masuk High, then the Hawks begin defense of their conference title in the playoffs.