Woodstock's Loretta Blakeney clears the ball from the end zone during the second half against Otter Valley. Woodstock beat Otter Valley in the state semifinals at Middlebury College on Monday night, October 31, 2016 with a final score of 2-0. They will go on to face Springfield in the finals on Saturday at the University of Vermont.(Valley News - John Happel) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.
Woodstock's Loretta Blakeney clears the ball from the end zone during the second half against Otter Valley. Woodstock beat Otter Valley in the state semifinals at Middlebury College on Monday night, October 31, 2016 with a final score of 2-0. They will go on to face Springfield in the finals on Saturday at the University of Vermont.(Valley News - John Happel) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.

Middlebury, Vt. — Miranda Johnson usually gets nervous before games, big ones in particular. But Johnson wasn’t nervous in the lead-up to her second-ranked Woodstock Union High field hockey team’s VPA Division II semifinal match against No. 3 Otter Valley on Monday night at Middlebury College, nor was she nervous during the game.

The Wasps are playing with the kind of confidence and swagger that comes from a senior-heavy, experienced squad loaded with speed. It showed as Woodstock outlasted the Otters, 2-0, to advance to their first D-II state championship game since 2009.

“I don’t know; I wasn’t really nervous for this one,” Johnson said. “I just knew we were going to win. I was confident.”

No. 4 Springfield, which houses several athletes from Windsor High’s defunct field hockey program, defeated No. 8 Harwood, 1-0, in the other semifinal bracket earlier Monday afternoon. The Cosmos and Wasps will play for a state title Saturday afternoon at the University of Vermont.

“I think it’s the most fun seeing how the girls have improved and grown to be more confident,” said Woodstock head coach Annie Doton. “Even over the last two seasons, their confidence has totally expanded, to the point where they have a chip on their shoulder. Not that they get over-confident, just that they feel good about themselves and feel good about their abilities. That makes a huge difference.

“I think some of the girls had some nerves,” she added. “I definitely had some nerves. I never used to as a player, but I had a hard time eating today.”

Woodstock has been looking forward to getting its chance on turf, a change of surface that makes field hockey quicker, more spread out and tougher to control.

Changing to turf can present a challenging adjustment, particularly for teams used to playing on grass fields during the regular season. But quickness is Woodstock’s game, particularly with speedsters Johnson, Mariah Luce and Lily Doton in on the counterattack.

Woodstock’s offense, however, came from its penalty corner play on Monday; the Wasps finished the game with a 13-6 advantage on corners. Johnson opened the scoring 10 minutes, 2 seconds into the first half, finishing what turned into a wild scramble in front of Otter Valley’s net after a corner. It was her 16th goal this season.

“I think we execute really well on corners,” Annie Doton said. “We make sure the spaces are filled. … It took us a while. We’ve gotten better (on corners) as the season has gone on, just like not getting caught ball-watching. … That’s a pretty mature skill for kids to learn. Even at the college level, kids get caught ball-watching. I’ve kind of beaten that into them. They’re good learners.”

Otter Valley, known for its aggressiveness around opposing teams’ nets, pinned the Wasps deep in their zone early in the first half. But Woodstock’s defense stood tall, keeping most of Otter Valley’s possessions to the outside and playing aggressively with Otters in scoring position. Woodstock goaltender Molly Henne only needed to make three saves for the shutout.

Lily Doton added the insurance goal less than four minutes into the second half, receiving a pass on the far side of Otter Valley’s net from Luce for her seventh goal of the year. The Otters had a tough time getting over the midfield line for long stretches of Monday’s game, granting the Wasps with plenty of offensive opportunities. Otter Valley goaltender Myliah McDonald made six saves.

“I feel like they’re a team that has a lot of feistiness,” Doton said. “I figured they were going to come into to today all fired up and mad, ready to go. I think they were. The girls, in growing that confidence, they’ve also grown a lot of composure.”

For Doton, Saturday’s championship game puts her in a somewhat awkward position, given the Wasps second-year head coach works as an English teacher at Springfield High during the day. But the Wasps’ path to a D-II state title had been lined with teams they’ve beaten in the regular season. And while the Cosmos have shown plenty of chemistry with their new Yellowjacket teammates, it’s hard not to feel Woodstock’s confidence on the field.

It’s a long way from the one-win seasons and the struggle for numbers of four years ago, making the Wasps hungrier to complete the turnaround.

“This feels like the year,” Johnson said. “We’ve all grown together after four years of playing. … It would be huge (to win a state title). We haven’t won a championship in so long. This is literally the year to do it, especially since we’ve been working so hard. I feel like we deserve it.”

Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.