Bishop Guertin players swarm Sophie Bilodeau, center, after she scored the game-winning goal Thursday in overtime, giving the Cardinals a 1-0 win over Pinkerton in the Division I preliminary round. (Photo by Joe Marchilena)

NASHUA – Erica Chareth had a simple message for the Bishop Guertin High School field hockey team Thursday afternoon at the start of overtime.

The Cardinals coach just told her players she didn’t want the season to be done. And then she repeated it again, and again, and again.

The players got the message, Sophie Bilodeau scored off a feed from Gianna Pezzetti with just over four minutes remaining in overtime, giving No. 7 Bishop Guertin a 1-0 win over No. 10 Pinkerton in the Division I preliminary round at Stellos Stadium.

With the win, the Cardinals (11-5-1) move on to face No. 2 Exeter, the defending Division I champ, in the quarterfinals at 2 p.m. Saturday at Bill Ball Stadium.

“I think they were working hard all across the field,” Chareth said. “We had to make a couple of adjustments. We knew Pinkerton was going to show up and give us a game, and of course they did.

“It’s tough that it was scoreless (at the end of regulation). We’re going to OT, we’ve got to score. I tried to reiterate to them, we don’t win it’s over, so we’ve got to win. I don’t want to be done. I kept saying it.”

The Astros (7-10) nearly did finish the season for the Cardinals in regulation, getting two penalty corners in the final two minutes, but couldn’t capitalize. They also had a rush in overtime that they weren’t able to finish, just before the game-winning goal.

“They played on fire. They played like they had nothing to lose,” Pinkerton coach Katie Littlefield said. ” I think some players were wanting to do too much on their own instead of passing it around. They all want it, they want to be the person who is the spark to make something happen. Sometimes it backfires and doesn’t go as you want.”

The first half went back and forth until the last half of the second quarter. Bishop Guertin five corners over the final seven minutes of the half, but couldn’t get a good chance on most of them.

The Cardinals got two more corners to open the second half, but Pinkerton’s defense was up to the task and play remained in the midfield for long stretches.

“It’s not like we’re doing bad,” Chareth said. “To see corner after corner and their defense stopping us, it’s frustrating. We’re trying different things to break their defense. A lot of back and forth.”

The goal by Bilodeau came after the Astros had a chance for the win of their own in overtime.

“It was an assist from my teammate Gianna (Pezzetti),” Bilodeau said. “Taylor (Guibord) took the ball down the right side of the field and passed it to Gianna in the middle. The goalie deflected it, Gianna got it back and I did a reverse shot into the top left corner.”