Nashua North's Kathryn Azevedo (4) heads the ball away from Windham's Kylie Candon duirng the first half of Tuesday's Division I preliminary round game at Stellos Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – That gust of wind around 4:30 on Tuesday afternoon you may have felt wasn’t wind at all.

No, it was the air flow from a collective sigh of relief that likely sailed down the Nashua River from the Nashua High School North girls soccer team. The Titans were able to escape a furious comeback by No. 11 Windham, 3-2 in the Division I prelims at Stellos Stadium.

A case of thrive and advance stunningly turned into survive and hope to advance, a tale of two halves. North which scored twice in the first couple of minutes of the game – including a Sarah Frye long kick eight seconds in – took a 3-0 lead into the locker room at the half. But the No. 6 Titans (13-4) were on their heels for much of the second half. They had to earn it after the Jags scored twice in the first five-plus minutes of the second half.

“Absolutely,” North coach Jacqueline Thompson said. “We were more organized in the first half. The second half I did tell them not to take them lightly, it’s the only sport you get a restart. Forty minutes, I think we’ve seen it all season, especially when it comes down to a tournament. That next 40 minutes can change anything. When it’s do or you go home, that 40 minutes means even more.

“I do think they were caught off guard by the first goal, we were a little surprised. And then they kind of sat back on their heels because it was a shock. … And when the second goal came the panic just set in.”

What the heck did Jags coach George Fortin tell his team at halftime to produce such a change?

“I just said ‘This is it, this is the season right now,'” Fortin said. “You guys want to walk away losing 3-0 or 6-0, or do you want to walk away feeling good about the effort. And they put in the effort, they played great in the second half and I couldn’t be more proud of the comeback. Fell a little bit short, but the way we played in the second half, that’s the team we are.”

Fortin changed the formation, adding a striker up front and a midfielder to get more pressure. “At 3-0, it was time to change it up and see what we can do,” he said.

And they did a lot. Kaylan Martin crossed a ball to Lauren Zachas who scored 1:38 into the second half, and four minutes later Martin put a ball over the head of North keeper Kathleen Schreiner to cut the margin to one.

What was a feather in North’s cap was the fact Schreiner & Co. kept the Jags, who had plenty of other chances, off the board. A lot of that was due to the young Norh defense paced by freshman Abigail Azevedo, who made a couple of key plays in the corner to slow the Windham train down late during a furious final seven minutes.

“Our back line is definitely strong,” Azevado said. “We work as a unit so we can maintain that strong back line. … Keeping our composure is good with our connections.”

“We’ve got two freshmen and two sophomores back there,” Thompson said. “She has a lot of calmness and composure, that’s really key in the defensive line to have that composure. To technically and tactically have that awareness, it’s a gift.”

The North offense gave its defense a gift when Amelia Seagle made it 2-0 just over a minute in. When Ali Frye buried a shot past besieged Jags keeper Harley Neal (10 saves) 18 minutes in to make it 3-0, the outcome seemed all set.

North did have second half chances, including a free kick by Sarah Frye that just ticked off the crossbar and over. Alli Frye had a breakaway chance or two but either the Jaguar defense caught up or Neal got in the way. Conversely, the Jags kept Schreiner (seven saves) busy and the home crowd on edge.

But survive the Titans did, and now the reward is a quarterfinal rematch with Bishop Guertin on Friday at 3 p.m., as the two teams played a classic a year ago won by North.

“I’m really excited,” Thompson said of the advancement into the quarters. “This is a special group … They’re pretty to watch when it goes on. Right now it’s celebrating the moments and every moment we get to celebrate is just so special.”

They could celebrate yesterday – but after taking a huge deep breath.