Brunswick’s Ava Wolverton, right, tries to dribble the ball up field while under pressure from Mt. Ararat’s Sarah Middleton during Monday’s game in Topsham. Cooper Sullivan/The Times Record

TOPSHAM — Win and in.

The Brunswick field hockey team knew Monday’s season finale against Mt. Ararat wasn’t going to be easy, but the players knew what was at stake — a playoff berth.

So when senior forward Sadie Correa knocked in the game’s only goal with 3:09 left in the fourth quarter, giving the Dragons a 1-0 victory, pure elation wasn’t the only emotion sweeping the Brunswick sideline. Relief was there, too.

“We’ve been here so many times, and it’s always a fight with this team,” Brunswick head coach Carrie Sullivan said. “(Mt. Ararat is) a phenomenal team, (Krista Chase is) a phenomenal coach. And … it’s Mt. Ararat-Brunswick. It’s just so sweet for my team to finally be on that side of it, to have the one goal be for us. I’m just really proud and really happy. Anyone who’s been around for a long time just knows how sweet this is.”

The sweet taste of victory didn’t come without stress.

From the opening whistle, the Mt. Ararat offense tested the Brunswick defense. The Eagles were awarded 10 penalty corners in the first quarter, including an early stretch of five straight, and 21 penalty corners in total. The ball rarely crossed the midfield line, and if it did, was quickly returned to the Mt. Ararat attacking half.

Brunswick was awarded one penalty corner right before halftime, its best offensive opportunity yet, but Mt. Ararat was able to clear it out.

The Dragons put some pressure on the midfield in second-half transitions, but getting the ball into the scoring circle was still a tall task, until they were awarded a penalty corner in the fourth quarter.

The ball was inserted from the left side to Ava Wolverton, who unleashed Brunswick’s first shot on goal.

“She hit it from top of the circle, and then all of us just ran into the goal,” Correa said. “We all just tried to hit it in, and I just happened to get it.”

The referees briefly deliberated, but then ruled it a score. The Eagles (10-4) had a few more scoring opportunities as the clock wound down, but the Dragons (4-8-2) held on and earned the one-goal victory. Eight of Brunswick’s games this season were decided by a single goal, including the 2-1 loss to Mt. Ararat on Sept. 24.

“I will tell you what stopped us: Ella Duchette. Their goalie won this game for them, hands down,” Mt. Ararat head coach Krista Chase said.  “You know, good for her. I love it when a goalie can take over. That’s a great thing. We hear so much about scoring and all of that. But this was a game where a goalie won it for them, and you don’t always see that. So that was — not that I like to lose — but that was kind of a cool takeaway from tonight.”

Duchette finished with 16 saves.

“I’m always like, ‘Nothing goes, we got this.’ I try to keep it positive,” Duchette said. “Once the ball goes, we just dial in. We’re really good at defensive corners. We’ve barely ever gotten scored on (on) our defensive corners. When we get them, they’re stressful, but I know we can take care of it and get the job done.”

Duchette added: “When we want it, we can fight and really get it. Our effort moved up. We started cutting off (Mt. Ararat’s passes), we started moving to the ball and getting open more, because for a while they were just cutting off our passes. We started moving and getting open, and just making good passes.”

Although the last countable game for the MPA is Tuesday, Oct. 22, and brackets won’t be official until Wednesday at the earliest, Brunswick is set to return to the postseason after missing out in 2023. The Heal points are subject to change, but as they currently stand, sixth-seeded Brunswick would travel to No. 3 Messalonskee, while No. 4 Mt. Ararat hosts No. 5 Mt. Blue for the Class A North quarterfinals.

“Don’t look at our record, but we’ve had a really special year,” Sullivan said. “And we just didn’t want it to end.”