Hollis-Brookline's Emily Tebbetts (15) is congratulated by teammates after the first of her two fourth-quarter goals during the Cavaliers 3-0 victory over Bow in the Division II semifinals. (Photo by Dan Doyon)

EXETER – The lone blemish for the Hollis-Brookline field hockey team occurred during the regular season came when the Cavaliers traveled to Bow and dropped a 1-0 decision to the Falcons

Hollis-Brookline didn’t waste its chance to avenge that loss with a lot more on the line during Tuesday night’s Division II semifinals.

Senior Addison Marchant scored in the first quarter and classmate Emily Tebbetts added a pair of fourth-quarter goals to lead the top-seeded Cavaliers to their 11th straight win via a 3-0 victory over No. 4 Bow at Exeter High School’s William Ball Stadium.

“This was such an amazing group effort,” Tebbetts said ‘We just cohesively did so well tonight and trusted each other and the effort just showed on the field.”

The win sends Hollis-Brookline (17-1) to the program’s second championship game on Saturday night when it challenges two-time defending champion John Stark (15-3) at Bedford High School at 7 p.m. The Generals advanced with a 3-1 win over No. 7 Hanover (11-7-1) in Tuesday’s earlier action.

Hollis-Brookline’s other title game appearance came when it lost 1-0 to Winnisquam in the 1990 Class M-S championship game.

“I’ve been here three years and we’ve done our best to create a winning mindset and a winning culture,” Hollis-Brookline coach Greg Cochrane said. “This is a credit to these girls. A lot of these girls are seniors now from the first time we were here.”

The Cavaliers lost to John Stark in the 2022 semifinals and were eliminated by Kennett in last year’s quarterfinals.

“Unfortunately the result wasn’t like tonight, but it means everything to this program, it means everything to these girls,” Cochrane said. “And it means everything to the future to know that this is what we aspire to do and these are standards we have to play to.”

The teams engaged in a feeling out process through the majority of the first quarter until Hollis-Brookline put together a string of penalty corners that Marchant eventually cashed in with 2:33 left in the first quarter to give the Cavaliers a 1-0 lead.

“It felt huge,” Marchant said. “Honestly it was an improvised goal that wasn’t our play from our corner but it came to me and I saw the open corner of the goal, I shot it, and I was so happy when it went in. It was the perfect start to keep our momentum for the whole game.”

Bow (13-4-1) responded by holding the Cavaliers scoreless under relentless pressure until Tebbetts scored off a penalty cushion to give Hollis-Brookline a 2-0 cushion with 12:36 left in regulation.

“That’s just my spot, I love hitting from that angle and I got the opportunity and it went in,” Tebbetts said. “I’m so glad my teammates got it to me in that spot. They’re so very talented and I’m lucky to have them.”

Tebbetts scored the game’s final goal with 6:59 remaining.

“We were outplayed today,” Bow coach Sarah Vaughn said. “HB just played a great game.”

Now the mission shifts to winning the Hollis-Brookline’s first championship against a John Stark team that is aiming for the first three-peat in Division II history. The Cavaliers beat John Stark in mid-September by a 2-0 score.

“I think we’re going to be evenly matched in speed, and we’re going to be closely matched in skill,” Cochrane said. “I think it’s going to be little details, 50/50 balls and hustle plays. That’s going to be the difference in that game.”