SOUTHBURY — Newtown High School’s field hockey team traveled to Pomperaug of Southbury on November 2 and outplayed the host Panthers for the bulk of the second half, only to fall short in a 3-1 decision on a chilly night. This was the first loss of the campaign for the Nighthawks, who previously defeated Pomperaug 2-1 in overtime.

Newtown fell behind 2-0 at the half but picked up the pace in the third quarter, only to see the Panthers withstand a Newtown barrage of chances and connect at the other end for a 3-0 cushion they carried into the fourth. Shannon Kelleher set up Reagan Schoen for Newtown’s cage-finder midway through the final stanza, and the Hawks had hope. They continued to pressure the Panthers, keeping the hosts from breaking out of their own end of the field throughout much of the second half and, in the end, outshooting Pomperaug 23-9. But it was not enough on this night.

“We just missed the cage by inches,” Newtown Coach Ellen Goyda said. “Pomperaug came out to play and the bounces went their way tonight.”

Katie Goyda, despite being double teamed, managed to stickhandle out of pressure and set up teammates for chances; she also had a blast off a penalty corner insert by Izzy Butler that was denied just before Pomperaug’s back-breaker of a goal that made it 3-0. Butler did a nice job controlling the ball during several pushes deep into the Pomperaug end and, along with Schoen, Goyda, and Brynn Reilly, piled up the scoring chances.

Victoria Stevenson and Jenna Reilly both forced turnovers before the Panthers could move out to midfield, leading to opportunities late in the game. Newtown continues to get solid defensive play, led by the efforts of Maddy Twitchell. Goaltenders Rebecca Filiato and Cailyn Sullivan split time against Pomperaug and each made a few stops along the way.

“I’m, proud of the kids. We played hard,” Ellen Goyda said.

Given how difficult it can be to defeat a team three times in a season, Newtown’s coach pointed out, this loss might not be such a bad thing for the Hawks, who will be the top seed in the upcoming South-West Conference North Division playoffs and may end up facing the Panthers one more time.

“It gets the monkey off our back,” said Goyda, adding that there is a clean slate to begin the playoffs. On the other hand, the Panthers have proven they can defeat the Nighthawks, making for an intriguing rematch should it take place.

This game also gave the Hawks some experience playing from behind, something to which this team is not accustomed, and served as a learning experience that the team must pick up the intensity earlier in games come playoff time, Coach Goyda said.

The Nighthawks defeated New Milford 4-1 on October 28. Butler scored twice, Goyda had a goal and an assist, Schoen scored, and Brynn Reilly tallied an assist. The Hawks have beaten the Green Wave two times, previously winning 6-2. Newtown was slated to close out the regular season against Brookfield on Wednesday.