Newtown High School’s girls’ soccer team made it four for four in terms of one-goal contests to begin the fall, and made it three wins in its first four games along the way, earning its second straight shutout of a tough South-West Conference rival.

The Nighthawks followed up a 1-0 win at title hopeful Masuk of Monroe with a 1-0 blanking of visiting Brookfield, last year’s conference champs, at Treadwell Park on September 11. The lone goal came in the second half when senior Addie O’Leary got the ball ahead to freshman Delia Stango, who made a run up the right wing and scored inside the near post from a sharp angle.

First-year high school athletes have made a big impact from the get-go, something Bourret saw coming in the preseason.

“Big wins. It feels great to get wins against the top of the league,” Bourret said.

“I think it puts us in a great spot to accomplish what we want,” which is a conference championship, O’Leary said.

This marks Bourret’s first victory over Brookfield in three seasons coaching with the Nighthawks against the Bobcats.

“It’s been a fight. They’re always a tough team,” the coach said.

Brookfield had the better of the play in the opening half, but Newtown got to nearly every 50-50 ball and generated most of the second-half chances, staving off the Bobcats who put together a late-game chance.

“They rallied. They came out right away with more energy, more intensity,” Bourret said of his team’s performance out of the break.

Outside defenders Taylor LeRow and Addie Kopp were among the players who contributed significantly to the Hawks’ ability to limit Brookfield’s offensive opportunities, and freshman goalkeeper Elise Ansman came up with a big save in the first half to keep things scoreless.

Newtown visited Stratford on September 16 and won again, this time getting the victory in convincing fashion, 7-0 to improve its record to 4-1. Stango scored twice, and Leah Morris, Blake Heim-Sherwood, O’Leary, Olivia Fernandes, and Nikki Tabor all had goals. O’Leary, Stango, Teagan Waaler, and Faith Weir notched assists.

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