John Stark field hockey advances to D2 final for first time with win over Hollis Brookline (video)

WEARE - Dennis Pelletier had to make a positioning change with the defense for the John Stark Regional High School field hockey team and he had to do it quick.

The Generals were preparing to face Hollis Brookline, a much more offensively-focused team than Hanover, the team they had just beat in the quarterfinals.

Those adjustments worked, as top-seeded John Stark survived a few dangerous moments in the first half Wednesday night and locked down No. 5 Hollis Brookline in the second on the way to a 2-0 win in the Division II semifinals at Bill Ball Stadium in Exeter.

The win sends the Generals to the title game for the first time in program history, where they will face No. 2 Souhegan at 11 a.m. Sunday at Bedford High School. The Sabers held on to beat No. 3 Portsmouth 4-3 in the other semifinal.

"It feels great, but it was our mission all along," Pelletier said. "We played every day, one at a time. (The Cavaliers) were nine million times a better team (Wednesday) than when we played them in August. We beat them rather handily. It was a lot more pressure. They are super aggressive and super fast."

For HB, it was the first time in the final four in recent memory and the Cavs were looking for their final appearance since 1990. It was a big leap in where the program had been even in the preseason, as coach Greg Cochrane was hired not long before the start of practices.

"I’m proud of our guys," he said. "They fought to the end. This is a good team, John Stark. I don’t think we showed up intimidated. I thought we were motivated. I thought we stuck with to our game plan to a certain extent. I’m proud of the way they fought and the way they kept in it, the way they kept their composure."

John Stark (15-0-1) beat HB 5-0 back in late August, but the Cavs (12-4-1) were one of the hottest teams down the stretch, having won 11 of 13 games and averaging 3.6 goals per game heading into the semifinals.

"When we played Hanover (in the quarterfinals), we knew they packed their, so we pushed our defense way up," Pelletier said. "They fell into that mode that they had to push way up. HB is totally different and we had totally change our mindset.

I said to Jackie (O'Donnell), you’re almost never going to come across (midfield). Both Emily (Fredette) and Adie (Bolduc) need to stay back more than they’ve been. They knew how fast they were. That’s the fastest team I think we’ve played this year. I think our defensive effort really worked well."

HB had a couple of great scoring chances early in the game, but the defense and goalie Edie Fischer (nine saves) came up big to keep it a scoreless game through the first half.

The Generals took the lead early in the second quarter, when Lauryn Guevin took a pass from Reagan Fischer, fired a shot from just inside the circle and across to the far corner. The shot looked like it might go wide, but it snuck inside the post, giving John Stark a 1-0 lead with 11:17 to go in the half.

That's where it stayed going into halftime and John Stark came out looking to add to the lead, forcing HB goalie Raegan Kline (six saves) to make a couple of stops before the Generals got a penalty corner.

Aubrey Fischer ended up with the ball at the top of the circle, and after missing on her first attempt, she sent the ball lower to Jillian Fredette, who buried the shot, giving John Stark a 2-0 lead with 9:47 left in the third.

"Sixty percent of our goals have come from corners," Pelletier said. "It’s huge (getting a two-goal lead). For a good span there at the end, we were just trying to push the ball up and get going."

From there, the Generals were able to drop back on defense and jump up enough on offense to force the Cavs to have to go the length of the field repeatedly.

"We definitely had a game plan in mind," Cochrane said. "Unfortunately, the other team gets in the way of that game plan. They’re very quick to the ball, they angle in away, they’re a very well-drilled, well-coached team. We knew that coming in and we expected that kind of play. We thought we’d be able to counter their aggressive defense a little bit and it just didn’t work the way we’d written it up."