Hollis Brookline's Caroline Crawford, left, and Sabrina Hill, far right, try to get at the ball while Oyster River's Grey Bowden, center, tries to esccape with it in front of Bobcats goalie Brooke Emond durng Monday's Division II showdown in Hollis. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

HOLLIS – They’ve been looking for that signature win all season, and on Monday the Hollis Brookline High School field hockey team got it.

Senior forward Nyah Jernberg scored the game-winner with 4:49 in sudden death overtime as the Cavaliers edged previously unbeaten Oyster River 2-1.

“Coming into this, obviously we were nervous,” Jernberg said. “I think we just wanted it more. … We just played our hearts out, we wanted this so bad.”

“No question about it, this is a big win for us,” HB coach Greg Cochrane said, his team now 9-1 in Division II and certainly a serious title contender. “I don’t know where this puts us in the standings, I’m not even worried about it. I just know if we play like this, it’s going to be tough (when playing them).”

It was a game of shifting momentum. HB struck first on a goal off a penalty corner by Addison Marchant, who later would assist on the game-winner. Her goal came with zero time left on the clock at the end of the first quarter.

It stayed 1-0 through the half, but the Bobcats, also 9-1, played like a team possessed in the third quarter, peppering Cavs goalie Maddie Barich (11 saves) before OR’s Rowynn Pickering blasted a shot that was so hard Barich never saw it, just heard bonking into the goal’s backboard with 4:36 left in the third.

The fourth period belonged to the Cavs, but Barich made a save at the end of the period off a Pickering shot and to OT, which is reduced to a six-on-six plus goalies to enhance scoring chances. And Barich and the Cavs had to survive straight penalty corners before the ball headed the other way.

“Lessons,” Oyster River coach Anne Golding said. “Not a loss, it’s a lesson. That’s really the mentality on this side of the field. It’s all preparation for what’s next, right? … It was a really fun game to coach and to watch, a lot of skill on both sides of the ball.”

Jernberg ended up having the most fun at the end.

“Nyah’s everything for us,” Cochrane said. “She does everything for us, she’s a special player, she works incredibly hard and she’s been this same kid since freshman year. I’ve been watching this for four years and it’s great to see it finally coming out last year and this year. She’s just a spectacular player for us, all heart.”

Cochrane said his team has been well schooled in how to handle the adversity that the Bobcats were throwing at them.

“In practice, I’m hard on them, that’s the adversity,” Cochrane said. “The adversity is created by us. We practice six on six all the time, this is all we do. We’re ready for this situation. There’s no situation that you’re going to throw at us that we’re not ready for. Now we may not come out victorious, but we’re ready for it. Credit to Oyster River, they played their butts off. … But tonight we had that little bit extra.”

Provided by Jernberg, who hit the open side of the net, out of the reach of OR goalie Brooke Emond (13 saves).

“Addie Marchant passed it up from the end line,” Jernberg said. “I was right there, saw the lane and took it.”

Signed, sealed, and delivered.