Newtown High School's girls' lacrosse team, the No 6 team in the bracket, dominated from start to finish in an 18-3 win over visiting and No 11 Bristol Eastern in the opening round of the Class L State Tournament on June 2.

Midfielder Natalie McLean was responsible for half of her team's goals — a trio of hat tricks worth of tallies — to lead the way. She scored in transition with solo efforts and after taking passes, from in close, different angles, and on free position shots ... you name it. There was no stopping Newtown's go-to scorer and the Nighthawks were in command from the get-go.

"She really took over in the midfield which was great to see," Newtown Coach Steph Suhoza said.

The Nighthawks built an 8-0 lead through one half of play. Bristol Eastern got on the board early in the second half, but the Nighthawks pulled ahead 13-1 through three quarters and had running clock for the entirety of the fourth.

McLean also had an assist, four draw controls, a ground ball scoop, and an interception. Nicki Kaplan scored three times to go along with an assist. Blake Heim-Sherwood had two goals, an assist, six draw controls, a pair of ground balls, and an INT. Sara Ruddy also had two goals and an assist along with a ground ball. Gabby O'Sullivan scored a goal and assisted on three others. Peyton Merrifield scored and recorded a ground ball. Elise Ansman took draws and helped the Nighthawks gain possession. Emily Sachs made nine saves and Nailah Peters Hopson entered the game and made some stops late in the contest.

"A great team win," said Suhoza, adding that the Nighthawks did a good job of sharing the ball, valuing possession, spreading out, and defending.

The Nighthawks stand to have a tough test in the quarterfinals when they visit No 3 Guilford Friday, June 5 at 5 pm. Guilford scored in double digits a baker's dozen times this spring and was edged by just a goal, 8-7, by Class L No 2 seed Cheshire in their conference tourney after beating Cheshire 9-8 during the regular slate. NHS lost to Cheshire 13-7 during the season.

"It's definitely going to be a very highly competitive game and we'll look to upset them," Suhoza said.

The Nighthawk coach added that valuing possession to avoid turnovers, much like her team did in round one, as well as finishing scoring opportunities — also as her Hawks did against Bristol Eastern — will be keys to getting through the quarterfinals.

The winner of Newtown-Guilford will face either No 2 Cheshire or No 7 Hall of West Hartford in the Tuesday, June 9 semifinals. The other half of the bracket features No 1 Simsbury playing No 8 Farmington and No 4 Fairfield Warde taking on No 5 Masuk of Monroe.

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