Souhegan's Amelia Warecki right, raises up the Divsion II field hockey championship plaque with some help in celebration of the Sabers 2-1 title win over Bow Saturday in Bedford. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

BEDFORD – Souhegan High School field hockey freshman Mariellah Dart had a lot on her mind in a split second on Saturday evening at Bedford’s Bulldog Stadium.

She badly wanted to receive a penalty corner pass with just over six minutes left in regulation in the Division II title game vs. Bow, which was tied at 1. The Sabers were in the middle of a flurry of a half dozen corners, but coming up empty. Until Dart blasted a shot into the Bow goal to give Souhegan a 2-1 championship win.

“The corners before, they weren’t really working, we weren’t executing enough,” Dart said. “We had a bunch of opportunities. … We finally got that call where we were like ‘OK, we can really do this.’ And I wanted that shot so bad for all of us. I wanted our seniors to have that feeling of winning and for all the adversity we had to go through during this freaking playoff run. And for us to finish that strong and to win and to have gold medals around our necks.”

Wow. That’s a lot to think about in a short amount of time, but this was the Saber program’s fourth final in seven years and something had to give. Souhegan has now won three titles but this was the Sabers’ first since 2007.

This game was simply a matter of survival.

“Depth is what got us through it,” Souhegan coach Kelli Braley said, her team ending triumphantly at 16-1-1. “Bow absolutely controlled that first half. They came out of the gates hot, we got back on our heels a little bit and had to fight back. And the depth is what carried us because we had fresh legs when Bow was a little bit tired.

“Mariella I can’t say enough about her poise under pressure and burying that winner. That was huge. .. We execute really well. When it came down to it, just being able to simplify and execute it was what we needed.”

The No. 2 Falcons were beating the Sabers to the ball in the opening period, which was scoreless. Then the Falcons’ Peyton Vaughn gave Bow a 1-0 lead nearly three minutes into the second quarter.

But the 15-2-2 Falcons’ momentum was stopped when Ori Dart was awarded a penalty stroke and buried it past Falcons goalie Aubrey Merrill to even things at 1 with 7:44 left in the half. It stayed that way through the rest of the half and third quarter.

“That stroke from Ori was a blessing and her ability to be calm under pressure was huge,” Braley said of the junior, Mariella’s older sister, who was a huge stabilizing force for the Sabers.

“For me, taking strokes at such a high stage of competition, it was just taking it back to square one,” Ori Dart said. “I’ve taken strokes millions of times. I know that I’ve done this before on stages like this before. I just needed to take it back and say ‘I can do this’, I have 100 percent confidence in myself.”

Souhegan’s Avery Wyborney crashes to the ground during the mayhem around the Bow goal and goalie Aubrey Merrill during Saturday’s Division II field hockey title game in Bedford. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

The other key contributor was Sabers sophomore goalie Olivia Harrison, who was pressed into duty due to a late season injury to senior captain Amelia Warecki. She came up big in a couple of spots last night.

“I’ve known what Liv is capable of,” Braley said. “She came up absolutely huge for us in these three playoff games, and the regular season finale against Hollis Brookline, as a sophomore to have that poise not only speaks to her but for the relationship she and Amelia have built.”

The Sabers decided to lay it all on the line.

“We talked at the half really it comes down to fundamentals even at the highest level game of the season,” Braley said. “It comes down to fundamentals and what you’re willing to do to finish the goal.”

The goal is finished.

“I was so happy for her,” Ori Dart said of her sister. “We always practice together on the turf, always in the off-season. Her work’s paying off.”

You could say that about the entire Saber team, the new Division II champions.