Souhegan's Libby Kennedy scores one of her six goals despite the efforts of BG goalie Emma Smith to stop her during Thursday's Division I quartefinal in Amherst. (Photo by Alex Posani)

AMHERST — Bishop Guertin came to Souhegan High School looking for an upset. Instead, the No. 7 Cardinals face the long offseason while the No. 2 Sabers move on to Saturday’s Division I semifinals after an 11-2 quarterfinal win at Calvetti Field.

Souhegan came out firing on all cylinders, scoring five unanswered to start the first quarter. The Sabers never looked back, maintaining control throughout the game.

To its credit, Bishop Guertin (9-8) still played a relentless, free-wheeling style of game, making risky passes, attempting to impose a level of physicality, and pressuring Souhegan.

“We played aggressively,” Cards coach Callie Santos said,her team stymied in the quarters by the Sabers for the second straight year. “The kids are playing hard and sometimes things don’t go your way you’ll lose position.”

That, unfortunately for Bishop Guertin, was the story of the first half, as they played man down on three separate occasions.

“I think with a physical game like that and for the game on the line or the season on the line, it’s easy to get sucked into that,” Sabers coach McKinley Sbordone said, her 16-1 team set to play No. 3 Pinkerton Saturday at 4 p.m.at Nashua’s Stellos Stadium. “So our message was play our game, don’t feed into it.”

Instead of feeding into it, they fed off of it. Late in the fourth quarter, Souhegan’s Libby Kennedy channeled her inner Bobby Orr, scoring one of her game-high six goals while flying through the air towards the net.

“She’s got the hunger for the goal. when it’s a tight game, I believe that Libby can finish those”.

And finish, she did. Libby Kennedy netted 6 goals on the afternoon, helped by Lanai Hickman and Abbey Gray with two apiece, and Emmie Curran finding the net.

For Bishop Guertin, Sydney Brophy and Sam Butler each chipped in a goal in the losing effort.