Telegraph photo by TOM KING Bishop Guertin goalie Makenna Reekie, shown making a kick save in front of teammate Lindsay Hult, left, will be keys for the Cardinals as the tourney season opens today vs. Bedford..

Maybe this will be the year.

Maybe this will be the field hockey tourney season when the area finally has a team in the Division I or Division II finals.

There hasn’t been one since Souhegan topped Portsmouth for what was then the Class I title back in 2007.

But this year, it will take a lot of doing.

The postseason opens today with No. 11 Bedford (5-8-1) taking on No. 6 Bishop Guertin (9-5) at 6:15 p.m. at Stellos Stadium and No. 8 Merrimack (8-6) hosting No. 9 Manchester Memorial (6-8) at 4 p.m. in the Division II preliminary round.

The other local entry gets to to wait until Sunday, but it may be worth it as in Division II the No. 4 Souhegan Sabers (12-2) host No. 5 Pelham (11-3) in the quarterfinals (they both have byes). Remember, Pelham stunned Souhegan in last year’s quarterfinals.

Here’s a look:

DIVISION I

For the umpteenth time in any sport, Bishop Guertin and Bedford meet in a tournament contest.

During the regular season, the Cards beat the Bulldogs 1-0 exactly a month ago.

Guertin was struggling after a couple of last minute losses to contenders Pinkerton and Londonderry, at 4-5 at the beginning of the month. But they recovered to win their last five, including wins over tourney teams Merrimack, Dover and Timberlane.

“We had a tough stretch right through the middle, and hopefully that led to where we’re playing well right now,” Cards coach Steve Duprat said. “Heading into the tournament I think we’ll play OK. … Losing those tough games put some character on the team. Every game was basically a playoff game. …

“We’re finishing right now. We’re getting goals, finishing our opportunities. And the last couple of games, our feet are moving and we’re playing a full game.”

They played more than a full game at Bedford last month, winning 1-0 in overtime on a Sarah Coyle goal.

“They’re going to battle,” Duprat said. “Their goalie (senior Rachael Noble) is really good, and we’re going to have to make the most of our opportunities. She moves well, doesn’t give any great rebounds, so that’s where we’ll have to capitalize.”

Brooke Yabroudy, Rylee Bouvier and Coyle have paced the Cardinal offense, while Lindsay Hult has been one of their best all-around players. Duprat has alternated goalies Monina Tosi and Makenna Reekie by halves in just about every game.

But the road gets tougher if Guertin can pull out a win as they will have to visit No. 3 Winnacunnet (11-3), whom they lost to 5-1 in Hampton just over a month ago. The Warriors have ousted the Cards from the playoffs the last couple of years.

But it’s not as tough a task as Merrimack would have to visit top seed Pinkerton (13-1) if they beat the Crusaders, whom they didn’t face this fall.

The Tomahawks played the Astros tough, losing 3-2 in the season opener. They’ve been led by players like Theresa Twardowsky and goalie Heather Rohr for most of the season. Their season was made with a five-game winning streak from mid to late September, with Concord the lone tourney team in that stretch.

The ‘Hawks are gamers. They took No. 3 Londonderry to overtime, and do own a win over the contending Warriors. Of Memorial’s six wins, only two are vs. tourney teams, Bedford and Timberlane.

But there’s no sense for BG or Merrimack to look past today. The tourney brings a whole different mindset.

“First thing’s first,” Duprat said. “One game.”

The Pick: Windham over Pinkerton.

DIVISION II

Speaking of mindsets, the Sabers have to be chomping at the bit to face Pelham, which ruined their title chances a year ago. Souhegan did beat the Pythons early in the season at home, 1-0.

The Sabers started the season in great fashion, winning their first 10 games and not allowing a goal until the tourney’s top seed, Derryfield, came to Amherst and left with a decisive 3-0 win two weeks ago, capitalizing on three of their five penalty corners.

And if the Sabers can get past Pelham on Sunday, it’s likely they would face Derryfield in the semis at Exeter’s Bill Ball Stadium on Halloween.

“It’s that mental hurdle for us,” Sabers coach Kelli Braley said back then with regard to the Cougars and their top scorer Lindsey Stagg. “Knowing who they are and knowing what they possess and being able to overcome that.”

Souhegan’s only other loss was 2-0 at Hanover last week in their regular season finale.

Braley Souhegan likes to move the ball east-west, and has allowed just seven goals all year. Defenders Izzy Aiello, Caroline Mastergeorge and goalie Ellie Byram are huge keys.

Braley says the Sabers love the big games.

“It’s exciting,” she said earlier this season. “It’s what you get out of bed for. It’s the level of compete. It’s the thing athletics teaches our girls better than anything else does – the how to persever, the grit, the determination it takes, the teammwork it takes to overcome obstacles like this, and the fact you can’t do it on your own.”

The Pick: Derryfield over Kennett.

DIVISION III

There are no locals in this divsision, but Hopkinton (13-1), Bishop Brady and Newfound (both 12-2) dominated the regular season. Gilford’s (No. 6, 11-3) the only team to have beaten the Hawks all season, and it would make for a great finals rematch.

The Pick: Hopkinton over Gilford.

Note: The semis will all be at Exeter’s Bill Ball Stadium next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, Oct. 29-31 witth the finals as usual at Bedford High School Sunday, Nov. 3 beginning at 11 a.m.

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The search is temporarily over for popular Merrimack girls basketball coach Courtney Cheetham’s replacement.

We say temporarily because Tomahawks athletic director Mike Soucy will coach the team on an interim basis for one season, and then resume the search for a permanent head coach in the spring. Cheetham resigned a month ago.

“We started the search, and we didn’t get a lot of interest, quite frankly,” said Soucy, who coached the Hollis Brookline boys for 11 seasons and served as a Bishop Guertin boys hoop assistant for seven years. “Most people who would be looking for a gig actually already have one at this point, and they wouldn’t want to jump ship this late.”

Soucy in no way blames Cheetham for the timing, as she first wanted to step down over the summer and he asked her to think about it some more.

“It’s really my fault,” Soucy said, “and so it’s going to make my winter pretty busy. But it’s a great group of kids, I know them all, and they’re all pretty excited.”

Athletic directors or other administrators have stepped in to take over varsity teams on a fill-in basis before. Last fall at Alvirne, principal Steve Beals coached the varsity girls soccer team while athletic director Karen Bonney had to handle the JV team after two late summer resignations.

“It’s going to be something that’s going to happen more and more frequently these days,” said Soucy, who is in his third year as Merrimack AD. “There just aren’t that many coaches out there.”

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This is a big final regular season week for the Nashua High School girls soccer team, which is 11-3. The Panthers end the season with a tough one-two punch at Stellos, hosting unbeaten Exeter (14-0) today at 4 p.m. but then finishing up Thursday night at 7 against local rival and fellow Division I title contender Bishop Guertin (11-2).

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