BURLINGTON — The Windsor High field hockey team had been playing for this game, a state championship rematch with Montpelier, since the beginning of the season.

The Solons, the defending two-time state champs, had ousted the Yellowjackets from the postseason in back-to-back seasons, including a 2-0 win in the 2023 title game.

Entering Saturday’s VPA Division III state championship, tournament top seed Montpelier had won nine of its last 10 games and had conceded just two goals in that span. It appeared as if the Solons were destined for yet another coronation.

Second-seeded Windsor had other plans. Propelled by the play of junior Tatum Flanagan in the cage and a three-goal second half output, the Yellowjackets denied Montpelier a three-peat and captured the program’s first state championship since 2021 with a 3-1 victory.

“It means a lot,” said Flanagan, following Windsor’s win at the University of Vermont’s Moulton Winder Field. “We’ve lost to Montpelier two years in a row. We lost to them my freshman year in the semifinals, and then last year in the championship. So it’s been hard, and it was a really hard-fought win. It just means a lot to our team considering the past.”

Windsor coach Blake Holden, having now wrapped up her third season overseeing the program, acknowledged that in spite of the two teams’ postseason familiarity, prepping for a team you didn’t see in the regular season is a challenge. It can also be a blessing, she said, allowing her squad a chance to focus on what it could control.

Still, factoring in the adjustment of playing on turf — Holden’s team had a single, one-hour practice ahead of the playoffs on a synthetic playing surface, she said — in concert with the Yellowjackets’ tendency to start games slow, Windsor could have found itself in an early deficit late Saturday afternoon.

That’s where the Yellowjackets’ defense, and Flanagan in goal, played a crucial role.

“Our defense held so strong the entire game,” Holden said. “They really kept us in the game. … We just kept reminding them to stay patient, stay calm and keep playing our game, and eventually it’s going to go our way.”

The two teams played a scoreless opening 30 minutes, highlighted by several Flanagan saves, including one off a penalty corner just before halftime. Her trio of saves early in the third quarter kept a threatening Montpelier side off the scoreboard.

Then, after 2½ quarters staving off the Solons, Windsor broke through courtesy of a goal from sophomore Grace Blanchard. Fourth-quarter tallies from freshman Lily Prebish and sophomore Olivia Dube, the second of which arrived in the final 90 seconds of play, sealed the win.

Flanagan and the Yellowjackets’ defense held Montpelier, which entered the game averaging 4.06 goals per game this season, scoreless for nearly 56 minutes. A goal off a well-executed penalty corner with 4:05 remaining in the fourth quarter ended Flanagan’s hopes of a third shutout in five games.

But despite the Solons’ late push, the “I believe that we have won” chants bellowed from Windsor’s vociferous student section.

Flanagan was also the recipient of several “M-V-P” chants booming from the Yellowjackets’ faithful throughout the game. The support that fans showed Flanagan was well-earned.

“She was everywhere,” Holden said. “I mean, she had her eyes on the ball; she was ready for the balls that came up at her high. She just stayed calm, cool and collected.”

Following a 3-2 overtime loss to Woodstock on Sept. 10, Windsor’s record sat at 1-3. The result marked the Yellowjackets’ third consecutive loss, but Holden’s message post-game was consistent: Losing isn’t fun, but this defeat would help them in the long run.

“We just kind of preached that these games are making us stronger,” Holden said in early September. “Unfortunately, we’re losing, but we’re getting stronger every single day and really preparing for our postseason.”

At that moment, it might have been hard to envision the season unfolding the way it did. To imagine a cartwheeling, wingless Yellowjackets’ mascot bounding up and down the sideline of UVM’s field hockey pitch in celebration of a goal; to hear the spirited cheers reverberating around the field; to think of successfully avenging two years of heartbreaking postseason exits; to visualize collecting a third state championship in five seasons.

But it did.

Windsor’s last loss came at the beginning of October, a 5-0 defeat to Bellows Falls. After that game, the Yellowjackets engineered an eight-game win streak, outscoring opponents 32-7 en route to their eighth state title in program history.

“It was definitely an honor to be playing with these girls,” Flanagan said. “To be able to watch everyone grow and learn how to play together, yeah, it was just an honor.”

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