MONROE — Possession was the determining factor in each of the last two matchups between the Newtown and Masuk high school girls' lacrosse teams. Newtown dominated the ball when the teams met in the South-West Conference playoffs, and the Nighthawks won that contest.

Host Masuk got the better of the draw play in their Class L State Tournament clash on June 6, and that correlated directly with the outcome: A 15-7 Panther victory which pushed Masuk into the semifinal round.

It was the same personnel in the draw area, Newtown Co-Coach Maura Fletcher noted. Masuk honed in on Newtown's draw tendencies and got to a majority of the balls, winning 18 of 26 en route to controlling the game, flipping the script from Newtown's draw domination in a 12-4 victory in the previous meeting.

"We beat ourselves a little bit," Fletcher said. "This was a tough one."

Blake Heim-Sherwood scored twice and added an assist, Nikki Kaplan had a goal and an assist, Jen Socci assisted two goals, and Natalie McLean, Abby Ihlefeld, Brooke Bulkley, and Sara Ruddy all scored. Goaltender Emily Sachs made eight saves.

Newtown got to the SWC Championship game and had an overall nice spring.

"Great season on the whole. We came such a long way. We just kept getting better and better," Fletcher said.

"Really proud of how the team came together. They kept fighting and believing in each other," Co-Coach Steph Suhoza added.

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