The Hollis Brookline Cavaliers celebrate their Division II girls soccer quarterfinal OT win over Lebanon on Saturday in Hollis. (Photo by Dan Attorri)

HOLLIS – The Hollis-Brookline girls’ soccer team prides itself on a prolific and balanced attack that only one team has been able to stop. Lebanon is the only team to put a blemish on an otherwise perfect record for No. 1 Hollis-Brookline this season and the No. 8 Raiders nearly did it again.

It took 98 minutes, but eventually senior midfielder Marleigh Kreick found senior forward Rosalie Desantis on a corner kick with less than two minutes to go in the second overtime, the only goal in 1-0 victory for the Cavaliers in Saturday’s Division II quarterfinal.

Lebanon (7-5-6) and Hollis-Brookline (16-0-1) tied 0-0 on Sept. 25, the only match in the regular season in which the Cavaliers scored less than two goals. The Raiders came to Hollis for Saturday’s playoff matchup with the same mission.

“Those girls worked so hard to defend,” Hollis-Brookline head coach Peter Clarke said. “They had the confidence from tying us last time. I thought my team played extremely well. Sometimes there are games where you just have to wait for that moment. You have to stay tenacious, and we were.”

The Cavaliers were on the front foot for nearly all of the match with steady possession in their attacking third. Hollis-Brookline had a 21-3 advantage in shots, 9-2 in shots on target, with all three of Lebanon’s chances coming in the final five minutes of regulation.

Hollis-Brookline’s sophomore goalkeeper Maddy Leonard only touched the ball twice in the first half, scooping up a pair of harmless, slow rolling long balls into the box, while Lebanon senior goalie Maezie Angles (eight saves) was busy all afternoon.

But despite the Cavaliers’ steady possession and presence in Lebanon’s end of the pitch, most of the shots on net were from tough angles and from a distance, and Hollis-Brookline couldn’t get the final touch on opportunities created by Kreick, Desantis, senior forward Donagha Lussier, sophomore forward Livia Ward and senior midfielder Molly Reardon.

“(Lebanon) works tirelessly towards the ball,” Clarke said. “They go to defensive compactness and cover the angles very quickly. There’s always a second defender there. When they win the ball they’re always playing to another Lebanon player. They’re looking forward and they look around to get ready to defend again. They keep their shape and their tenacity.”

Senior captain Peyton Rutherford and fellow defenders Julia McGee, Claire MacMartin, Sara Forman, and Payton Breedlove all made big plays for the Raiders, while sophomore midfielder Kai Swart was “a fearless engine” in the midfield, according to Clarke, and senior defender Cassidy Engle was key in the back for Hollis-Brookline.

Angles made three of her eight saves in extra time, but the Cavaliers kept pressing, drawing a corner kick with two minutes to go until their fate would be decided by penalty kicks.

Kreick sent the ball into the middle of the box where Desantis’ header went low to the right corner, right between Angles and a Lebanon defender guarding the post.

With Hollis-Brookline’s bid for a third consecutive championship and 55-game unbeaten streak still alive, the Cavaliers prepare for Tuesday night’s semifinal against No. 4 Milford (10-4-3) at Bill Ball Stadium in Exeter.

The Spartans beat No. 5 John Stark, 4-0, in Saturday’s quarterfinal. Hollis-Brookline bested Milford, 6-0, when the two teams played on Oct. 2.

“Very similar to this one, (the key) will be maintaining our composure,” Clarke said. “It’s a healthy rivalry, both teams will come to play. We need to keep our defensive poise and our attention going into the attack.”