EASTHAMPTON — Not an ounce of doubt was left at Sawyer Field on Wednesday afternoon, as the Williston Northampton School field hockey team jumped out to an early lead and kept the pedal to the metal the rest of the way. The No. 2 Wildcats added a pair of fourth quarter goals to catapult their lead to five en route to a 5-0 victory over No. 7 Suffield Academy in the NEPSAC Class B quarterfinals.

Williston (13-4) will host No. 3 Dexter Southfield in the semifinals on Saturday.

“It was a great team win, and it feels good to win that one but also just the way that they played and worked together was really incredible today,” Wildcats head coach Alex Tancrell-Fontaine said.

After losing in last year’s quarterfinals by one, senior Violet Carroll acknowledged the relief felt within the team once it took care of business, but also made it clear Williston isn’t satisfied quite yet.

“It means a lot to us, it’s so exciting,” Carroll said. “We’ve worked so hard this whole season, and last year we came up short in the quarterfinal game. This just means a lot for us because of all the work that we’ve put in this whole season… We have work to do Thursday and Friday before our big game on Saturday, but I think we’re going to be ready.”

Wednesday marked the 10th time this fall that Williston recorded four or more goals in a game, and in those 10 games, the Wildcats have a 10-0 record. Carroll started the scoring party late in the first quarter, winding up and blasting a shot from just inside the circle off a penalty corner pass from Ava Carr. Suffield’s goalie had no chance as the shot whistled through traffic and into the cage to put the hosts ahead 1-0.

Brooke Schlutter added to Williston’s lead with just under nine minutes to go until halftime, as she took a pass from Zola Piekarski and snuck behind Suffield’s back line. Only the goalie stood between Schlutter and the goal, and one swift move around the keeper freed her up to bury the goal and double the Wildcats’ advantage.

“We have a great offensive line, and scoring first is something that we do emphasize,” Tancrell-Fontaine said. “When we score first we are successful, and just making sure that we are on the offensive is something we emphasize as well.”

There was no sign of complacency out of the halftime break despite having a comfortable 2-0 lead. Williston came out and continued to dominate possession and kept the ball in its attacking half of the field for most of the frame. Piekarski buried her first of two goals with 7 minutes, 39 seconds remaining in the third – Schlutter and Carroll picking up assists – to jump in front by a commanding three goals.

Piekarski then buried a fourth-quarter off assists from Carroll and Nora Curtis at the 6:19 mark. Finally, Curtis rounded out the scoring with two and a half minutes to go. Piekarski picked up the assist.

Both Carroll and Piekarski recorded three points while Schlutter and Curtis tallied two for the high-powered Williston offense. The Wildcats kept their energy and effort levels at a very high level throughout the entire four quarters of play, something that will always make a coach happy.

“Winning every quarter is super important to us,” Tancrell-Fontaine said. “You win every quarter, you win the game.”

Back in October, Williston cruised to a 3-0 win over Suffield in the teams’ first meeting of the season. Although the Wildcats had handled them rather easily already, none of the players wanted to think about that coming in to Wednesday’s rematch. The regular season is thrown out the window come playoff time.

“One of the big things we talked about going into the game was keeping the foot on the gas the whole game, because we had already beaten them prior,” Carroll said. “We just wanted to leave that game behind. We played well today, and even when we scored we still knew we had to keep going.”

Defensively, Williston earned its fifth shutout of the season. The Wildcats didn’t necessarily have to make an abundance of plays on that end of the field in their quarterfinal win, but they were solid and sharp when they had to be.

“We’ve done a lot of work on the defensive side of the ball,” Tancrell-Fontaine said. “Taking a lot of pride on defense is something we talk a lot about as a team, so to get a shutout in the playoffs is pretty incredible. That speaks to how hard the defense works and the core that they are together.”

“We were able to get the ball down the field, but when it did come to our defensive side, we communicated, got it wide and got it out right away,” Carroll added. “So just our consistency throughout the game was great to see.”

As is the goal come playoff time, Tancrell-Fontaine believes her team is playing some of its best field hockey of the year right now. Williston went on a 10-game winning streak during the season, and despite two hard-fought losses after that, the Wildcats ended the regular season with a dominant 9-1 win over Northfield Mount Hermon.

That elite showing in all phases of the game carried into Wednesday.

“They’re in the right spot, they’re doing all the right things and they’re working so hard right now,” Tancrell-Fontaine said. “They’re such a great group. So just working together and being the team that they are will lead to success.”

Boys soccer

NEPSAC Class B quarterfinals

No. 6 Williston 4, No. 3 Kimball Union Academy 1 — Ayden Kokoszka tallied a hat trick for the Wildcats as they traveled up to New Hampshire and left with an upset win over third-seeded Kimball Union on Wednesday afternoon.

Williston will travel to Dedham to take on No. 2 Noble and Greenough in the semifinals on Saturday.

Girls volleyball

NEPSAC Class B quarterfinals

No. 2 The Rivers School 3, No. 7 Williston 0 — The Wildcats had their season come to an end on the road Wednesday, falling in three sets.

Scores were 25-15, 25-12, 25-18.