Castleton, Vt. -- As perhaps the smallest member of the Windsor high school field hockey team, Shawna Pinsonault is an irresistible target for her teammates' happy hugs.

A bag of ice in her hand and a cramp in her left calf, all Pinsonault wanted after last night's Vermont Division II field hockey championship was done was a place to rest. Megan O'Neill, who towers over the pint-size Pinsonault, would have none of it, hoisting her fellow senior into a clinch and carrying her across the sideline.

Senior Mackenzie Callahan then spotted Pinsonault, wrapped both arms around her and nearly snapped her in half, bending her over backward in an embrace. Stunned either by celebration, pain, utter confusion or sheer joy, it took a few moments for Pinsonault to finally get her wits about her and join the Yellowjackets in a post game cheer.

The source of all that huggable happiness? Pinsonault's crease-jam goal with 55.5 seconds left in double overtime that gave fourth-seeded Windsor a 2-1 win over eighth-seeded Woodstock for its first state field hockey championship since 2000.

Perhaps the Jacks' most experienced player on artificial surfaces such as the one employed at Castleton State College's Spartan stadium last night, Pinsonault gathered a pass at the left side of the Woodstock circle and threw a ball into the pads of Woodstock goalkeeper Julie Boyd.

With O'Neill also joining the scrum, Pinsonault managed to push a second-chance opportunity through a crowd of legs and into the net to put a celebratory end to the Jacks' return from a zero-win season just two autumns ago.

“We were in the circle, and there was a bunch of people in there; that's all I remember seeing, a bunch of feet,” Pinsonault recalled after escaping the arms of her ebullient teammates. “I thought they were going to call a corner, I honestly did. I didn't want a corner because I just wanted to get it in.

“I just pushed through, hoping it would make it through all those people and the goalie's legs. I heard it hit (the back of the goal). My thumb got hit, too; I just fell down because I was hurt and because it was such a relief that we won.”

The goal came on the next rush up the field after the save that saved Windor's season.

Woodstock gunner Blake Wardwell eluded Callahan and Windsor defender Alex Morley for a solo breakaway from midfield with less than two minutes left in overtime. Wardwell kept the two Jacks in her baffles as she bore down on the Yellowjackets' sophomore goalie, Catelyn Curtis.

Uncertain of Wardwell's plan of attack, Curtis (four saves) flopped to the turf as the Woodstock senior fired, getting her right leg on the ball. Morley then swooped in to clear the rebound.

“I just tried to keep my cool, keep focused and tried to see where their stick is angled to see where they're going to hit it,” Curtis said. “If worse comes to worse, I just lay flat on my butt. It kind of seemed like she pushed it into my legs, and Alex was gracious to get it out for me.”

Pinsonault showed herself to be the game's biggest threat, even as the best scoring chance of the first half got away.

Barely a half minute into the game, the midfielder sent a 30-yard free hit into the Windsor scoring circle, but O'Neill fanned on the hard pass five yards to the right of Boyd (six saves). Thirteen minutes later, Pinsonault sent another long through ball, catching Janine Lens in stride for a potential breakaway. Boyd knocked Lens' shot into the air and batted it to safety, but officials whistled Woodstock defender Lea Stephenson for an illegal tackle from behind, drawing a penalty stroke.

Windsor coach Sandy Clary called on Pinsonault for the shot. Woodstock coach Wendy Wannop countered by inserting backup netminder Amanda Maxham … and Pinsonault sent her bid high and wide to the left.

“I misread where I was going to shoot it,” Pinsonault said. “I was aiming for the low corner. I just got a little shaken up because this whole crowd was here, a lot of support, the noise. I tried.”

As she's done throughout the second half of the Wasps' season, Wardwell struck tin first to give Woodstock the lead on a well-executed penalty corner.

Alex Vutech started the play from the right side of the circle, delivering a perfect pass to midfielder Aria Robinson. The sophomore sent a soft tap to the left, just far enough to avoid a charging Windsor defender. Wardwell did the rest, driving a low 13-yarder past Curtis' outstretched leg at 19:40, Wardwell's sixth goal of the tournament, her 15th in her last 10 contests and her Upper Valley-best 21st of the season.

“Unbelievable,” Wannop said. “Particularly on the right-hand side, she's able to shield the ball, and she keeps her stick on the ball, has a beautiful flick. I tried to move her around tonight, trying to find her that open opportunity. She certainly had the ball a lot.”

After halftime, possession was almost exclusively Windsor's.

The Jacks pounded eight shots Boyd's way and earned 14 penalty corners over the second 30-minute session. On the 12th try, Morley sent an initial corner pass to the top of the circle, Pinsonault fed Lens on the right side of the circle and Junior Caitlin Callahan deflected Lens' drive inside the left post to tie the game with 8:02 left in regulation.

“Sometimes, at half-time, we have to regroup and just rethink everything that's happened,” Pinsonault said. “Just pull ourselves together and remember why we are all here. ... We just needed to remember that we were here to win. We didn't travel all the way here to test out this cool field.”

Instead, the littlest yellowjacket with the biggest heart turned around and gave the Spartan surface one more fond review. As a past participant in U.S. Field Hockey's Futures program, Pinsonault knows turf hockey and would love to make more memories in a Castelton jersey at some later date, she admitted.

“She is a young lady that's worked really hard,” Clary said. “Her sister, Amanda Paquette, was a standout at Windsor: 1998 state championship, went to UVM and played. Shawna has grown up with that influence and has really followed on the coattails of Amanda. She has picked up the skills done a lot of camps … She's a done a tremendous amount to develop her skills. And, of course, this is her territory -- turf.”

It all just makes her teammates want to just hug her. Over and over and over again.

Greg Fennell can be reached at gfennell@vnews.com or (603) 727-3226.