Keene junior Mckenna Nelson (35) passes the ball up the field to her teammates, past Bishop Guertin’s Sophia Bilodeau, at Scripture Field in Keene Saturday afternoon. Keene defeated Bishop Guertin 3-1 in the quarterfinal. (Hannah Schroeder/Sentinel Staff)

KEENE — For the Keene High field hockey team to get where it has wanted to be all season — they had to do something the group had never done before.

These Blackbirds had never defeated Bishop Guertin, going 0-3-1 over their last four attempts dating back to 2021. Even in an unbeaten regular season this fall, BG proved to be the lone, stingy outlier — the only team to avoid a loss against the top-seeded Birds.

The second time around, Keene would not be denied a celebration on Foster Field.

A two-goal second half lifted the Blackbirds to a 3-1 quarterfinal win over the Cardinals on Saturday, clinching a spot in the Division I semifinals for the third time in program history and for the first time since 2014.

And for the Cardinals, an end to an otherwise successful season.

“Today was their day and they had a few more go in the back of the net,” said BG coach Dakota Bilodeau. “We had opportunities, they just didn’t fall.

“We were excited to get on the bus here, obviously. They got the win today,” Bilodeau added. “They are a great program. Those girls work really hard.”

McKenna Nelson scored on a rifled shot from the top left of the circle with 2:30 to play in the third quarter to give the Blackbirds a 2-1 lead. Then Cece Walier picked up her second goal of the game with 9:42 to play, cleaning up a tipped pass off Olive Thatcher’s stick to provide insurance.

No. 1 Keene (16-0-1) will face No. 4 Pinkerton (13-3-1) on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Bill Ball Stadium in Exeter. Bishop Guertin’s season ends at 12-5-1.

“They’ve worked so hard and I’m just so proud of them,” said Keene High head coach Michelle Tiani, who earned her 100th career win on Saturday. “I don’t even know what to say. … They set this goal last year and they wanted a final four and they worked and worked and it happened.”

The rematch of the Sept. 30 1-1 tie lived up to the billing, and likely will go down as Keene’s biggest home win in at least a decade.

It was 1-1 on Saturday at the halftime break after an evenly-played opening 30 minutes.

Walier put the Birds on the board in the second minute of the game, tucking a close-ranged shot between the legs of BG goalie Ayla Saeturn.

BG answered back in the final minute of the first quarter, when Maddie Harrington struck home a shot following a penalty corner.

“I wasn’t surprised [BG] came back right away, I expected it,” said Tiani. “I asked the girls at halftime: ‘Did we really think one goal was going to take? We’re going to need at least three.’ And we scored three. So they’re pretty good at following directions.”

Shots were 7-5 Keene at halftime and penalty corners were even 6-6. Keene had three consecutive corner attempts at the end of the half but could not beat Saeturn, who finished the game with eight saves.

Tensions rose in the second half as the teams remained even — until Nelson’s breakthrough following a corner in the closing minutes of the third.

Walier’s persistence in the circle, which also garnered her first goal, reared its head again in the fourth quarter and allowed the Birds to turn their focus to defensive measures with a late, two-goal lead.

Lily Rowell was only called upon for one save in the second half. But made three key saves in the opening two quarters.

Keene was confident that they did not give BG its best effort when the two sides faced off in September, and knew that its best effort would be necessary to punch through to the semis.

“We let them get to us,” Miller said of the teams’ regular season tilt. “Today, it was more of playing our game, staying calm and keeping positive vibes all over the field and I think we did a really good job of that. We possessed, and when things got frantic we were able to hold our own.”

“I’m proud of this group and what we have been able to do this season,” Bilodeau said. “I think this year, I think the league has been the tightest. If you look at one through eight, it was like it was anybody’s game going forward and that is what makes the postseason fun. So we were excited to get on the bus here, obviously.

“We were excited. We knew we could hang and we knew this was a game that was winnable. So yeah we were excited to get on the bus. It just went their way today.”