Telegraph photo by TOM KING Alvinre goalie Paige McKinley gets crunched up against Bishop Guertin's Madeline Neily (14) as her Broncos teammate Adrienne McKoy-Sophos looks on during the Cards' dramatic 3-2 overtime win in the Division I quarterfinals in Hudson on Sunday.

HUDSON – Winston Haughton wasn’t surprised that freshman Martha Lord had the foot to put the Bishop Guertin High School girls soccer team he coaches into the Division I semifinals.

“She’s been a game changer the whole year for us,” Haughton said. “She’s just got a lot of composure. She’s a special player.”

Lord’s goal just 1:21 into sudden death overtime, converting a feed down the middle from teammate Brooke Paquette, gave the Cards a hard-fought 3-2 win over Alvirne Sunday in the Division I quarterfinals.

As a result, the Cards will take on another 12-0 team, defending champion Exeter, in the semifinals on Thursday, time and site to be determined.

What was determined was that the Cards had the right player streaking down the middle. Lord fired a hard grounder that Broncos keeper Paige McKinley, who was under siege but held up with 17 saves, had no chance to stop.

“All I saw was the goal and the goalie and I just hit it,” Lord said. “I was just trying to aim it to the corners, because the goalie was kind of to the side of the net.”

This was a battle royal, as the Broncos are much improved over the team that lost to BG in last year’s prelims.

After a scoreless first half, BG got two goals from Grace Kelly, but Alvirne answered both.

The Broncos first goal was by Hannah LoVerdi (Kelly Perry assist), tying things 1-1. Kelly put BG up again, 2-1, 58 minutes in, but two minutes later Paige Boudreau boomed one from the outside that Guertin keeper Erin Norris couldn’t reach to tie the game. Halle Miller picked up the assist.

“We talked a lot about momentum, about not wanting to let them keep momentum,” Alvirne coach Jerry Ruigrock said. “Those were huge goals to get that back.

“I was telling the girls after, you were watching that game, you couldn’t tell who the better team was.

“We played so well all season. … The girls played their hearts out. I think in the end the difference was they were just a little deeper than us.”

“Alvirne (6-3-1) was a fantastic team,” Haughton said. “Jerry has the girls playing really well. They did a fantastic job and we’re really happy to be past them.”

And it was no small feat taking BG to overtime, because after Boudreau’s goal, the Cards just kept coming at McKinley, with several chances.

But Haughton said the Cards know they need to realize a good thing when they see it.

“As a team we just have to know how to play with leads,” he said. “And when another team comes at us be a little bit more careful how we do things.

“But I’m just really proud of the girls for always giving that little bit more and digging deep.”

And now they’ll have to dig even deeper. Exeter, always beat Portsmouth 4-1 to emerge from the seacoast region, which they dominated all fall. The Blue Hawks will no doubt be the best team the Cards have faced all year.

But the Broncos were certainly no slouch. And it took, in Haughton’s mind, a special player to beat them.

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