Katie Boudreau and the Bishop Guertin girls soccer team have their eyes on the prize, a Division I championship, as the tourney opens this week. (Telegraph file photo by TOM KING)

The pursuit of a state championship has been ongoing with the Bishop Guertn High School girls soccer team the last few seasons.

They’ve suffered back-to-back 1-0 Division I semifinal losses the last two seasons, to Londonderry in the pouring rain at Stellos Stadium in 2019 and at the hands of Exeter in the 2020 semis.

Is this finally their time?

“As a group, they’re very technical, very fast, physically fast,” Londonderry coach Derek Dane said. “Their speed of play, speed of thought is very good.”

The Cards hope all of that is good enough to win a title.

Meanwhile, Hollis Brookline and Milford appear to be playing their best soccer as the tournament approaches.

Here’s a look at how things could turn out:

DIVISION I

What’s not to like about Guertin? They have talented scorers (Brooke Paquette, Katie Boudreau), solid two-way players like Hannah and Martha Lord, and a four-year starter in goal in Erin Morris.

The challengers? Bedford obviously, and the two teams played a classic this past Wednesday night at Stellos Stadium, albeit a scoreless tie. Many would love to see a rematch.

“Hopefully, we’ll see how the football gods work,” Guertin coach Winston Haughton said. “Pinkerton (the Cards’ lone loss), Bedford, I expect to see them all again.”

Don’t count out top four-type teams Portsmouth, whom the Cards beat at Stellos a month ago, and Timberlane, whom BG did not see. It’s possible, depending on how things shake out, Guertin could see the Owls or nemesis Pinkerton in the quarterfinals. And let’s not forget about Exeter, whom the Cards had to rally to beat in double overtime. There are as many as seven teams with double-digit wins in Division I.

The team no one should want to play? We say battle tested Alvirne. Broncos coach Jerry Ruigrok has his team primed and ready, they’ve played six overtime games and most of this same group nearly knocked off the Cards in OT in last year’s quarters.

As Bronco striker Paige Boudreau said, “The game’s not just 80 minutes now.”

Going into the season’s final week, the Broncos had only as much as 30 minutes during the season when it wasn’t a one-goal game. Wow They’ve got a tough wing defender in Adrienne McKoy-Sophos and great distributor in Hannah Sellingham.

Merrimack and Nashua South are in that lower tier that will have to go on the road but can certainly pull off an upset. The Panthers have speed in Soraya Ross and Camile Michon, and have also played in several close games,. They’ll need some offense to advance. Merrimack will look to players like Isabella Saxon for offense.

“The last two weeks, it’s been up and down for all the top four teams,” Bedford coach Michelle Winning said. “There are some teams in the 8-9 spot that are going to disappoint some people. You have to be ready for everyone and every day. You can’t look forward.”

THE PICK:

BG over Bedford (be ready for PK’s)

DIVISION II

Defending champion Milford and Hollis Brookline will be the locals to watch here. They’re both solid teams; the double-digit win Cavaliers are going in hot as July (OK, well not this past July) and had only given up three goals in their last seven games (all wins) heading into their regular season finale and have lots of depth. Will the offense come from Sophie Walle?Lauren Holt? Rachel Brackett? Tough to focus on one. The Spartans have also surged way from the pack and are good defensively with Sarah Sawyer and Carol Raiano.

Both have one thing in common: they’ve each lost to top seed Pembroke and No. 2 Bow. So one will have to try to break through and each could match up against those two in the semis if they advance that far. Should be interesting.

THE PICK: Bow over Hollis Brookline.

DIVISION III

It would be a big longshot for Campbell, which was still fighting for a tourney berth near week’s end, to return to the finals. The Cougars have a few familiar names (Josie Oberto, Brooke Soncius, Liv Moreau) and have competed most of the season, but had 10 fewer wins than last year’s champ, Hopkinton (unbeaten at midweek) it would be a tough road.

THE PICK: Hopkinton over St. Thomas

DIVISION IV

Alas, the Warriors of Wilton-Lyndeborough were hurt by the loss of Elisabeth Jacob to High Mowing and were fighting for that last tourney spot as of this writing. Newmarket, Profile and perhaps Sunapee are the class of the division, and the champ will likely come from one of those.

THE PICK: Littleton over Newmarket

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