The Bishop Guertin girls soccer players celebrate their go-ahead goal in the second half of thier 4-1 Division I semifinal win over Pinkerton Wednesday night in Exeter. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

EXETER – The Wall in front of the championship game had been in the way of the Bishop Guertin High School girls soccer team the last couple of years, and it’s looked tough to crack.

And it was standing firm again at halftime of Wednesday night’s Division I semifinals, looking as solid as ever after Pinkerton had the better of the play to send things into the break 1-1.

Well the Cards huffed, puffed, and in the second half scored three goals to knock that wall down hard for a 4-1 win in the chill of Bill Ball Stadium.

What happened?

“Honestly, the mindset again,” said Guertin sophomore Martha Lord, who had the go-ahead goal and two assists. “We come out strong in the second half most games, a lot stronger because we have our halftime talk. It gets us going, gets us hyped.”

“What a game, what a game,” said Cards coach Winston Haughton, his No. 1, 16-1-1 team now set to face No. 3 Bedford here in Sunday’s 5:30 p.m. Division I title game, Guertin’s first girls soccer championship game appearance since 2004 and just the third in program history. “In the first half we didn’t use the ball as well. We decided to concentrate on areas where we thought we’d get more success. In the second half it turned around. We got good pressure, maintained pressure, the goals came after.

“It was a great half. The girls can do that.”

And they showed it. Guertin scored two in two minutes time beginning with Lord’s header off an Emily Neily free kick in the 57th minute to snap the 1-1 tie and put BG ahead for good. Nearly two minutes later, Cardinal striker Brooke Paquette, taking a feed from Lord, literally willed the ball in after colliding with Astros goalie Libby Williams, as it trickled into the net after the two hit the ground. It was over.

Guertin not only avenged a 1-0 loss suffered nearly a month ago at the hands of the Astros, but defeated the tourney’s hottest team. Pinkerton (16-3-2) had won 11 straight coming in.

“I think they made whatever adjustments at halftime they needed to to kind of come back at us,” Pinkerton coach Danielle Rappa said. “I think we were playing fine until the two goals so close in a row. That kind of took our energy away; I felt such a difference after the two quick goals. … It was frustrating.”

Lord seems to save her best for the postseason. She had a pair of scores on Sunday in the 6-0 quarterfinal win over Alvirne, a year after her overtime goal won another quarterfinal against the Broncos.

“She was outstanding today, first half, second half, she was really big for what we did,” Haughton said. “And she popped up with key goals as well. Second half we all played well to a man, and Martha’s job is to put the ball in the back of the net, so she gets her name in the paper. But that whole team in that respect was fantastic.”

Lord was credited with BG’s first goal that came 11:14 into the contest, but actually it appeared the Cards’ Katie Boudreau put in a rebound of her own shot to give Guertin a 1-0 lead. Lord had placed the ball in the box to start the play.

However, that woke up the Astros, who had a couple of free kicks before Caitlyn Seleny took one at the 30 and lofted it to wide open wing Chayse Dube who swooped in and easily scored past a stunned BG keeper Erin Morris, who had no chance, at 31:32 of the half to tie it.

Suddenly, The Wall stood tall.

“Pinkerton rallied and got a good goal and that kind of set us back on our heels,” Haughton said. “But after halftime, I think the girls composed themselves, followed instructions as best they could and we got more control of the game.”

Guertin’s Renee Leblanc came down left wing and easily scored inside of five minutes left to put an exclamation point on the win. If there was any doubt at halftime, it was erased by one of the best second halves against a quality opponent Guertin has played all season.

And now the Cards strive for just the second girls soccer championship in their history – they won it as a member of what was then Class M-S in 1992, soon after the school had switched to a co-ed environment. They played the Bulldogs, who beat Portsmouth last night 1-0 in the other semi, to a fiercely competitive 0-0 tie in the regular season finale.

Simply put, after recent semis frustration, they weren’t going to be denied.

“They have a never-say-die attitude,” Haughton said. “Totally focused on the goal. We’ve had the goal since last year when we fell short. We’ve gone one step further.”

With the biggest step to go.