Westminster, Vt. — Woodstock and Bellows Falls, two teams with designs on making long Vermont Principals Association field hockey tournament runs, slugged it out Tuesday, with the Terriers holding off a late surge by the Wasps for a 2-1 win.

Like a lot of games between two stellar teams, this one came down to defense. Bellows Falls made it difficult for the visitors to get deep penetration on attack.

“This field is much faster that our notoriously slow field,” explained Woodstock coach Annie Doton. “And it was wider, and we are not used to a wide field. We had a hard time moving the ball inside.”

Even though Bellows Falls is a Division III team, the Terriers are not just a run-of-the-mill D-III team. The Terriers are the defending state champions and are 13-0 this season with nine shutouts against 13 Division I and II opponents.

“And we aren’t bad either,” maintained Doton, whose D-II Wasps (7-4-1) count two defeats to BF and to a pair of Division I foes as this season’s losses.

Much will be learned as the week winds down before next week’s tourney. Woodstock hosts Mount Anthony on Thursday and goes to Otter Valley on Saturday. BF closes out the regular season at Hartford on Friday.

This game hit its peak with 6:45 to go. Woodstock, which didn’t have a shot on goal and was trailing, 2-0, at the time, cut the deficit in half when Miranda Johnson converted a bouncing roller from Mariah Luce and slid it under the pad of BF goalie Bridgid Hodsden.

Things got a little hectic at this point. Woodstock had a chance to tie the contest, but the Wasps managed just one penalty corner the rest of the way, took a long time setting it up and had no success in beating the Terriers’ defense.

While Doton thought the field was faster, BF coach Beth Coursen thought that the earlier-in-the-day rain might have slowed her team down.

“There was some slipping, but I thought we could have been quicker,” she said.

Coursen also thought that BF defense, which has given up just six goals all year, was again a factor.

“They are just so steady,” said Coursen.

The only goal of the first half was scored by BF junior Dani Marchica who dribbled from the side, followed the ball to in front of Woodstock goaltender Molly Henne and slapped a shot home.

Woodstock’s Loretta Blakeney had a strong game, helping the Wasps to slow down the Terriers at midfield. Woodstock also had some steady play from Heather Blanchard as the contest moved into the half still a one-goal affair.

Both teams had trouble penetrating the midfield as the second half moved along. BF finally struck again on a nifty run of play, with Reaghan Baldasaro sliding the ball along to Marchica, who was able to send a pass to the stick of Molly Kelly for a tap-in goal.

BF had a 6-1 edge in shots on goal, while the Wasps had a 4-3 advantage in corners.

Tournament pairings will be announced on Monday.