From left, Hollis Brookline's Lindsey Dattis, Sabrina Hill and Nyah Jernberg celebrate Wednesday night after Jernberg scored during the Cavaliers' 4-0 win over Pembroke in the Division II field hockey prelims. (Photo by Joe Marchilena/NH-HighSchoolSports.com)

HOLLIS — Hosting their first playoff game since 2007, the Hollis-Brookline field hockey team showed Wednesday night it’s ready to make a deep run in the Division II tournament.

Facing Pembroke Academy in the preliminary round, the Cavaliers came out aggressive early and coasted to the 4-0 win. It was Pembroke’s first tourney appearance in 10 years.

The first 12 minutes were dominated by the 11-3-1 Cavaliers. Lindsey Dattis scored the first after a penalty corner and a pass from Alyssa Hill. They extended their lead only a few minutes later on a close shot from Sabrina Hill, assisted by Bella Haytayan. The Cavaliers were able to draw three penalty corners and kept the ball in the offensive end of the field for the majority of the quarter.

“Our intent is to come out and start the game fast,” said HB coach Greg Cochrane, who made it clear that the team’s goal coming into the year was to host a playoff game. “Those two early goals gave us a lot of confidence.”

HB stayed on the attack in the second quarter thanks to a shot from outside of the circle by Hailey Arseneau to put HB up 3-0.

Shots were hard to come by for the Spartans. They didn’t get their first shot on net until the second quarter and forced HB goalie Raegan Kline to make only two saves all night. The Cavalier defense was aggressive in limiting Pembroke’s opportunities.

“The way we positioned our defense countered how they were trying to play,” Cochrane explained. “We backed off some of their presses and anticipated their hits. We were able to get those stops in the middle of the field as opposed to our front line, which allowed our defense to play up forward a little more.”

Nyah Jernberg would put the finishing touches on the game in the fourth quarter on a shot in the middle of the circle thanks to a pass from Dattis, making the score 4-0.

With the win, No. 5 Hollis-Brookline will move on to the quarterfinals, where they will up north to face the No. 4 Kennett Eagles. Cochrane noted that his team will have to adjust going from playing on a turf field to a grass field, but they have the experience to be ready.