Hollis Brookline's Juliette Ogren (3) carries the ball out of a crowd that included Goffstown's Eva DeMatteis (15) and, falling away, Bella West during Monday's game in Hollis. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

HOLLIS – The landscape is certainly different in Division II high school girls lacrosse this spring, with Portsmouth taking its stretch of five straight titles to Divison I.

So now what?

“Well, you know, every year it’s a different team, there are different players that come up that are developing, that are great players,” Hollis Brookline coach Linda Haytayan said as the Cavs have been the runner-up the last two seasons and three out of the last four the tourney was played. “We’ve already lost to Windham by two goals, they’re a good team. Hanover’s good, Winnacunnet we haven’t seen yet.”

But the Cavaliers, now 5-2 after throttling a shorthanded Goffstown team 19-6 on Monday, are certainly in the mix. They have plenty of offensive firepower in the Hill sisters, Saint Anselm-bound Alyssa (four goals, three assists yesterday) and sophomore Sabrina (two and two) or a Paige Mello (five goals, two assists) and Bella Haytayan (four draw controls, goal, assist).

But Haytayan feels that defense will make the big difference maker.

“Our defense, I think, is phenomenal,” she said. “Their IQ is so high, and they work together. They’re very quiet, but they’re fierce inside.”

Paige Magnuszewski, Julia Vella, and Daniella Allanach are as solid as can be in front of first year goalie Addison Dougherty. “They just play really, really well together,” Haytayan said.

Also for HB Monday, Cailean Roy had two goals, while Samantha Smith had a goal and an assist, and Juliette Ogren a goal and Allanach an assist. Yesterday was not really a true test, as the Grizzlies (3-2) were missing as many as a half dozen starters due to school vacation week. It was 3-2 early but by halftime the Cavs had a 14-3 lead and the second half was played in running time. Another top Division II player, University of New Hampshire-bound Eva deMatteis, had five of Goffstown’s six goals.

So the Cavs got as much as they could out of a big mismatch.

“Yes we did,” Haytayan said. “We played together as a team, we pushed the breaks, we moved the ball on offense, the off-ball movement was good. Yes, we worked on a lot of things which was really nice.”

The Hill sisters are tough, solid scorers that teams have yet to really be able to handle, not since Portsmouth clamped down on them last June.

“They’re up there, and they work well together,” Haytayan said.

Against Windham, the Cavs let Jaguars’ Butler commit Chloe Hall run the field, “and we weren’t picking up the cutters and we weren’t playing good off-ball defense. … nothing aligned. They’re a strong team, a run-and-gun team.”

The Cavs will play up a division at Londonderry on Wednesday, but they’ve got almost a month before a tough back-to-back road stretch, at Windham in a rematch on May 17 and then at Hanover on May 19.

Then the landscape in Division II may be more clear than it is now.