Bolduc's fourth-quarter goal helps John Stark field hockey past Hollis Brookline (video)

HOLLIS - Grace Bolduc knew that if she was going to score a goal, she was going to have to shoot high.

The only problem for the John Stark Regional High School field hockey senior was finding an opportunity to do so Saturday morning against Hollis Brookline.

Bolduc finally got that chance in the fourth quarter, on a penalty corner, sending the ball high and into the netting of the goal to give the Generals a lead they wouldn't relinquish in a 2-1 win over the Cavaliers in a Division II game.

The goal came with 8:17 remaining, as Bella Pelletier inserted the ball right to Bolduc, who got it outside the circle, but had enough time and space to move it in before sending a shot on goal and over HB's Rea Kline.

"We know the goalie, we play year-round with her," Bolduc said. "I knew I had to go high. I love drag flicks anyways and my teammates were like 'you’ve got to put one in there.' Nice ball from Bella. I think it boosted us up. We knew we had to play hard."

The officials met to determine if the shot had been a dangerous play, but after speaking for a few moments, they signaled a good goal. Bolduc never had any doubt.

"There was no way they could take that back," she said.

While John Stark (6-1) was able to keep the ball in the HB end for long stretches the rest of the way, the Generals had to fend off a corner for the Cavs with no time left to preserve the win. Adie Bolduc made a play to push the ball off the foot of an HB player and end the corner, giving John Stark the win.

"We keep pushing through as hard as we can for as long as we can," John Stark coach Dennis Pelletier said. "The last couple of minutes, I did put more people back than normal. Sometimes that helps, and sometimes, if you put too many people in the circle, you can get a corner. That’s what happened. (Adie Bolduc) was smart enough to push the ball off the other team’s foot. It was a smart play. They were trying to score, so there were a lot more feet in the circle."

Hailey Brisson started the scoring, putting John Stark up 1-0 with 10:13 left in the first quarter, off an assist from Grace Bolduc. But HB (3-5) answered just 1:03 later, as Elise Figueroa assisted on a goal by Sabrina Hill to tie the game.

That's where it stood until Grace Bolduc's goal, despite great scoring chances for both teams. The Generals were awarded a penalty stroke in the second quarter, when Kline was forced to cover up the ball in the circle, but the HB goalie was able to get a pad on the attempt by Aubrey Fischer.

John Stark had another chance on corner moments later, but Kline (nine saves) was there to make the stop with the help of the Cavs' defense.

"We knew coming in that it was going to be hard to score a goal because of their style of play," Dennis Pelletier said. "(Kline) played a great game in goal for them. The two goals we scored were high shots. She’s an aggressive goalie and she’s the first one we’ve seen this year who plays that style. I think we’re keeping the ball on the ground and we needed to put in a few more lifts."

The Cavs were able to take control of possession to start the third quarter, but couldn't keep the ball in John Stark's end consistently, and when they did, Generals goalie Helen Connor (five saves) was there to make the save or end the threat.

"There’s no relaxing in a game like this," Grace Bolduc said. "It was 1-1 the whole game, you’ve just got to keep up the pressure, keep up being aggressive, playing through all the calls. It was a very physical game, so we couldn’t get frustrated. If they got one breakaway, we all had to hustle back."