BEDFORD, N.H. — Ahead of the Stevens High girls soccer team’s 2-0 victory over top-seeded and previously unbeaten Gilford in an NHIAA Division III semifinal on Monday, Cardinals coach Tim St. Pierre delivered a simple speech.

“The message before the game was, ‘There’s nobody in this facility that believes we can win, except the 21 of us in this circle. And that’s all that matters,’ ” he said.

Stevens has now appeared in three consecutive semifinals, but its runs in 2022 and 2023 ended in heartbreaking fashion, a title game berth ultimately unrealized. Not this time, though.

Sophomore forward Payton Ferland’s brace, coupled with another stout performance from the Cardinals’ back line, saw Stevens exorcize its postseason demons of years past, securing the program’s first state title game appearance since 2018.

“We talked about this at the beginning of the year, and we weren’t shy or backing away from it,” St. Pierre said. “We didn’t want to go sideways. And anything short of what we just did would be sideways. This is a special group, and they wanted to take one more step.”

Monday’s clash under the lights at Bedford High pitted Gilford’s prolific attack, one that entered the match averaging 5.39 goals per game, against a Cardinals defense that had recorded 13 clean sheets in 17 games and had not conceded a goal since Oct. 1. Stevens’ shutout streak was extended in the win, a product of “hard work and discipline,” St. Pierre said.

It also doesn’t hurt to have a senior center back like Isabella Bovell, who the Cardinals’ boss billed as “the best player in our division.”

In tandem with fellow senior center back Nevaeh LeBlanc, who St. Pierre joked is being “held together by duct tape,” and junior goalkeeper Audrina Pelton, Bovell and the Stevens defense have recorded nine straight shutouts. The back line’s stalwart nature is built on the unit’s cohesion, Bovell said.

“We just stay together,” she said. “We know when to drop and cover for each other; we are always moving as a team. And if someone’s out of position, we help and mark in that position until they recover.”

Entering the game, Bovell knew the Eagles’ attacking strategy rested on their ability to get the ball into wide areas and provide service into the center of the box. That pregame forecast was evident early in the first half. Gilford threatened the Stevens’ defense throughout the opening 20 minutes, the former’s best chance coming off the boot of Macy Sawyer, whose shot from the edge of the 18-yard box sailed just over the crossbar.

St. Pierre knows his back line will keep the Cardinals in games. It’s just a matter of seizing the opportunities in the attack. Enter Ferland.

After perhaps the Eagles’ best chance of the first half — a shot from Lianna Keenan that was dragged wide of the near post in the 37th minute — Ferland broke the two teams’ scoreless deadlock moments before the intermission.

Driving down the right sideline, sophomore midfielder Bailey Leavitt earned a corner kick and quickly set the ball down. As Gilford’s gaggle of players attempted to organize themselves in the box, Ferland — who said she is often the one to take corners — made an unmarked run toward the near post. Leavitt’s delivery was perfect, allowing Ferland to lift a glancing header over the Eagles’ goalkeeper and into the back of the net.

“It makes me mad when nobody hits mine in,” Ferland said, joking about her corner kick deliveries. “And I’m like, ‘That was a perfect ball. Where are you guys?’ So I really just needed to go for it; I needed to hit it in. I knew wherever it was, I was going for it.”

Clinging to a 1-0 lead throughout the second half, Stevens continued to repel Gilford’s attacking advances, aided by Pelton’s play in between the sticks, until Ferland iced the game in the 80th minute.

When an Eagles player was dispossessed around midfield, Ferland received a ball down the sideline with just two players to beat. Ferland, who methodically dribbled around one defender before poking the ball past the other and slotting the ball past the Gilford keeper, said she needed to be “subbed out five minutes before the run.”

“I thought I had nothing left in me,” she said. “But I saw the ball going, nobody else is up with me, and I’m like, ‘I need to make this run.’ The goalie didn’t come for me, so I thought they called me offsides. I didn’t even know I was still in play, but I just had to finish that one.”

A rematch with St. Thomas, the third overall seed, now awaits Stevens on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Bedford. The Cardinals emerged with a 4-0 victory in Claremont on Oct. 7 in the two teams’ lone regular-season meeting, avenging the previous year’s semifinal defeat to the Saints.

The focus for Stevens, now 80 minutes away from capturing the program’s second state championship and first since 1988, is on rest and recovery ahead of Saturday’s final, St. Pierre said.

Bovell also made it clear the two teams’ past results, whether in 2023 or 2024, have no bearing on the championship outcome. Still, neither squad will be lacking motivation.

“They’re going to come out with a lot of energy, and they’re going to want to beat us,” Bovell said of the Saints. “But we’re just going to come up with the energy we had tonight, and show them that we’re going to get this.”

Alex Cervantes can be reached at acervantes@vnews.com or 603-727-7302.