Sports

Girls' Lacrosse Team Defeats Notre Dame And Falls To Brookfield

By Andy Hutchison

Published: Apr 24, 2026 6:50 am

Newtown High School's girls' lacrosse team defeated visiting Notre Dame Prep of Fairfield 18-1 on April 16 and went on the road and lost to Brookfield 8-5 on April 21.

In the win over Notre Dame, Emily Sachs and Nailah Hopson Peters combined to make four saves and had offensive support from up and down the lineup. Natalie McLean scored four goals, logged two assists, and had six draw controls. Nicki Kaplan had two goals and a pair of assists. Blake Heim-Sherwood and Olivia Verdi both scored twice to go along with a trio of draw controls apiece. Peyton Merrifield scored four times and had a draw control. Sara Ruddy logged three draw controls. Claire Campbell had a goal and two assists, Delia Stango and Elise Ansman a goal and a draw control each, and Fiona MacKassy one goal.

Against Brookfield, the Nighthawks got 11 saves for Sachs but fell to 4-2 heading into Thursday's visit to New Fairfield. NHS visits Fairfield Ludlowe Saturday, April 25 at 10 am and goes to Bethel Tuesday, April 28 at 4 pm. Newtown's next home game is scheduled for Thursday, April 30, when Joel Barlow visits at 4 pm.

Nicki Kaplan, right, defends during a game this spring. —Bee Photos, Hutchison

Blake Heim-Sherwood makes a pass.

Olivia Verdi looks to make a play on offense from behind the goal.

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The Way We Were

I am glad to see First Selectman Bruce Walczak engaging the electorate. Mark your calendars, folks — apparently, communication from Town Hall is possible after all. But where was Bruce two days ago, when Connecticut State Police requested assistance from Newtown Police after two individuals fled on foot from an I-84 crash? As a manhunt went through town, police were stationed at our schools, and many residents checked their car doors, deadbolted their houses, and armed themselves (Thank you James from Port Conway). That sounds like exactly the kind of situation where residents would expect timely communication from town leadership. Parents, neighbors, and residents in the affected area should not have to piece together information after the fact while police are actively searching the community. The issue is not whether our police did their job. They did. The issue is whether Town Hall is doing its job when it comes to keeping residents informed during real-time public safety situations. If the First Selectman can write to residents about the importance of showing up for the budget, he should also show up when residents are looking for clear, timely information during an active police incident. This kind of communication was promised during the campaign. Unfortunately, Bruce Walczzzzak is starting to look like just another politician: campaign on change, criticize the last guy, ask taxpayers for more staff, and then tell residents the job still cannot be done.

The First Selectman On The Budget

528 more feet of broadsheet paper ... we have passed the dump ... as for the details, it is worth pointing out that Merrimack's coal plant shifted to two (2) 4 oil generators. I wonder if this is why crude oil production hit record highs in July...

Elections Have Consequences XXV

Where was our CodeRED? For over 4 years Newtown has a CodeRED system. The town tells residents it exists for emergencies and points to things like missing persons, wildfires, and criminal activity as the kinds of incidents it is meant to address. Yet we had no CodeRED for Kateri Doty, no CodeRED for the brush fires, and no CodeRED for yesterday’s manhunt with police and tracking dogs moving through our backyards. That is not one oversight. That is a pattern. Under sleepy Bruce Walczak, the town has an emergency notification system that never seems to get used when actual emergencies happen. Whether or not Bruce physically sends the alert himself is beside the point. If the system is not being used, if residents are left hearing about dangerous situations from Facebook and the neighbors’ kids instead of from their own government, then that failure belongs to him. Newtown residents should not have to guess when there is a public safety issue unfolding around them. If Bruce Walcz"zzz"ak cannot make sure an emergency alert system is used for emergencies, then what exactly is he doing?

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So your counterpoint is that The Bee prints the same number of pages regardless of how much content appears in it. If that is true, then I stand corrected. I actually doubt that is the case.

Elections Have Consequences XXIV

Thank you for continuing to read my letters and bringing attention to them. As I said the last time you went through this tortured calculation, the Bee would be printing the same number of pages with or without my contributions. Why not spend your time writing a letter to the editor trumpeting all the great triumphs you think Trump has accomplished?

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Girls' Lacrosse Team Defeats Notre Dame And Falls To Brookfield

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