Girls Lacrosse Team Scored Early and Often Against Notre Dame

A five-time consecutive South-West Conference title winner, the Newtown High School girls lacrosse team is no stranger to success.

With three starters from last season's championship roster and fresh from Thursday's win over Cheshire, the team demonstrated its dominance once again on Friday. Junior Meagan Carney and senior Meghan Bridges helped lift the Nighthawks to a 20-5 win over Notre Dame-Fairfield at Treadwell Park.

The scoring barrage began just 11 seconds into the first half, as Carney streaked past defenders and fired a shot past goalie Bridget Connors. Senior Lisa Vendel then added a goal just 15 seconds later.

The Lady Lancers never delivered Newtown a real threat. Notre Dame-Fairfield's Meghan Dudek scored two minutes and 21 seconds into the game to cut the lead to 3-1, but Newtown's Erin Brown responded with a tally less than a minute later.

Before long, the floodgates would open.

Carney scored the second of her game-high four goals with 13:46 remaining in the first half to extend Newtown's commanding lead to 9-2.

Afterward, Carney credited her teammates for her offensive outburst.

"We work really hard together and we have a lot of team chemistry and camaraderie," she said. "I couldn't have done it without my teammates because they're a big part of this team."

The five-time defending conference champions seemingly manueuvered through Notre Dame-Fairfield's defense at will as they opened up a 14-2 halftime lead, before pulling back their attack.

With the comfortable lead at hand, Fletcher wanted her players to use the in-game experience to practice the offensive "rides" and some "specialty defensive plays," she said.

Notre Dame-Fairfield failed to consistently attack Newtown goalie Celeste Cheung, but the Lady Lancers finally broke through with three consecutive goals late in the second half. Jessica Ormrod cut the lead to 20-3, while Kelly Conniff netted the game's final two goals. At that point, the late surge was nothing more than window-dressing on a dreary day.

While the Nighthawk's high-powered attack was certainly overwhelming for their conference foe today, they featured a level of depth that can help contend for a sixth straight SWC title.

Bridges and Brown formed a potent duo, as they each scored three goals.

Fletcher said the Nighthawks' scoring output is "not just a heavy load of one or two players" and that the team's versatility makes them more dangerous.

Winning certainly has become the norm for Fletcher's team. She described winning five consecutive championships as great, but also noted that the hunger for future success must always remain.

"Every year, you never take (success) for granted. If you do, that's when you lose," Fletcher said. "We work just as hard every year and we set goals every year."