BEDFORD – The Hollis-Brookline Cavaliers’ took down the two-time defending champions John Stark in the Division II championship 2-0, thanks to two savvy goals by seniors, Emily Tebbetts and Addison Marchant.

“I just knew that we had something there and the commitment level that we had from the girls from the summer on, I could tell that there was something special here,” said the Cavaliers head coach, Greg Cochrane. “So did I know we were going to win a state championship three months ago? Of course not, but I knew I had a special group that was united.”

The No. 3 Generals, led by first-year head coach Cassidy Huckins, had been in this position before and had the championship experience to challenge a Cavaliers team that looked nearly unbeatable.

“I’m just honored to have made it this far. First-year head coach, (I) was hoping for the W but H-B came out strong,” said Huckins.

Hollis-Brookline’s only loss of the season came against the Bow Falcons in September and the Cavaliers were able to quickly dispatch the fourth-seeded Falcons in the semifinal, 3-0. Hollis-Brookline (18-1) had beaten the Generals (15-4) in the regular season with relative ease, at home, 2-0.

The two teams exchanged blows with penalty corners going both ways in the first half as each team took turns trying to go ahead first. Both goalkeepers, the Cavaliers’ sophomore, Maddie Barich, and the Generals’ sophomore, Rowin Ledy, came up with huge saves in the first half.

But with five minutes left in the second quarter, Tebbetts scored with a powerful swing from the right side of the circle that flew past Ledy’s outstretched right leg.

Tebbetts had previously scored two goals – nearly identical to the one in the championship – in the semifinal against Bow and emerged as a clutch player once again for Hollis-Brookline.

The Generals faced their first deficit of the playoffs coming out of the half and needed an answer if they were to defend the title, but the Cavaliers’ defense seemed to have an answer for everything that John Stark’s offense threw at them.

At the end of the third quarter, the Generals suffered another blow to their chances at defending the title.

Marchant came up with a skillful goal after Ledy made a huge save with her left-hand pad that shot up into the air behind her and was knocked in by Marchant, who was all alone in front of the net.

“They executed their goals off of corners. That’s how they win their games and unfortunately, we did our very best to try and prevent the corners, but their speed, their defense, everything was unmatched, and they played very well,” said Huckins. “Our team did too, we came out strong. We had great transfers up the field to break their press. We did everything we could to get the ball up there. We just couldn't execute.”

In the end, John Stark fell short to a very strong Hollis-Brookline team – who were crowned champions for the first time ever in Cavaliers history.

“I think what we do really well is we believe in our system, and all 10 girls play that system,” said Cochrane. “We can run the rest of the girls out that will then play that system and that's really it. There’s no secret sauce. It's just the way we want to play, the system we want to play.”

Head coach Cassidy Huckins said she wants to continue to build her culture with the Generals and that a main focus moving forward will be on creating more attacking chances and trying to score more with the young core of the team.

John Stark graduates a group of seniors who were part of rebuilding the field hockey culture in Weare and Henniker from the youth level up. Forward Jill Fredette (the program’s all-time leading scorer), midfielders Adie Bolduc and Michaela Niquette, and defenders Emily Fredette, Ryann Telgen and Emilee Lundeen contributed to the four best seasons in program history, including two championship titles and a combined record of 59-8-1 over their varsity careers.

Alexander Rapp can be reached at arapp@cmonitor.com