BURLINGTON — All Hartford High’s Charlotte Jasmin needed was a head nod from Madison Barwood. No words needed to be spoken between the teammates. The quick gesture and some simple eye contact sufficed.

Just a shade under five minutes into the third quarter of Saturday’s VPA Division II field hockey championship at the University of Vermont’s Moulton Winder Field, Jasmin took one dribble off a restart before rifling a pass through the heart of U-32’s central core. A couple of Raiders tried to get their sticks down to block Jasmin’s pass, but the ball whizzed by them, settling at Barwood’s stick inside the circle.

What did the only player ever to reach the century mark in goals scored for Hartford field hockey do?

Barwood took a couple dribbles inside, cut back to the outside, dancing around the U-32 goalkeeper in the process, and calmly slotted the ball into the back of the cage for Hartford’s 1-0 championship victory.

It was “signature Barwood,” said Hurricanes coach Heather Scudder, a goal that ultimately clinched the Hurricanes’ second consecutive state title.

“I don’t know (if) back-to-back (titles) means as much as these girls (playing) four years in the finals,” Scudder said. “I mean, the two we lost, they were hard-fought battles. And this one definitely tested us. Just happy we ended up on top.

“It’s the rightful sendoff for these girls.”

Ahead of the game, the Hurricanes identified that U-32’s keeper had a tendency to come off her line too far. They knew it was an area they could exploit when presented with the chance.

It appeared as though Hartford had capitalized on that opportunity less than two minutes into the game.

Following a penalty corner insert, Paige Trombly passed the ball off at the top of the shooting circle to Jasmin, who dispatched a Raider defender before hammering the ensuing shot into the cage.

But the Hurricanes’ celebrations were quickly halted as the goal was waved off by one of the officials.

Hartford and U-32 stayed knotted in a scoreless deadlock for the remainder of the first half. Out of the intermission — and less than a minute after the Raiders threatened with their own penalty corner — Barwood found the breakthrough.

“It’s just, like, our thing,” Jasmin said.

“I try to get it through to her, and I hope she can do her thing and score. I mean, she does it in every sport she plays.”

Said Barwood: “It’s definitely an unspoken thing. We just look up, make eye contact (and) I know it’s going to come right to me.”

It would’ve been naive to think that Saturday’s contest would be a “perfect game,” Scudder said. So when the Hurricanes entered the fourth quarter clinging to a one-goal lead, Scudder said the hope was that her team didn’t create any mistakes that could give U-32 an easy scoring opportunity.

“The adrenaline was rushing,” Jasmin said.

“We just told our defense that they needed to just keep holding it, take some time off the clock … and hopefully we wouldn’t let up a score.”

Despite being a more offensive-minded squad, Hartford leaned on its defense to close out another state championship, producing timely stops throughout the final 15 minutes. Trombly’s block in the shooting circle with 56 ticks left on the clock was the Hurricanes’ final big stop, effectively ensuring a successful defense of their title.

“It’s a nice way to end the season and know that we came all this way and got what we wanted out of it,” Barwood said.

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