New Trier had its highest finish in the history of its program last year when the Trevians finished second in the state. The girls have wanted a chance to get back and win the big game.

Thanks to Saturday’s 5-3 win over Evanston in the Glenbrook South Sectional final, the Trevians are getting their chance.

“We’ve been training hard with that game in mind,” New Trier’s Lauren Barrett said. “We have to keep training, play hard, start fast. We’ve had that in our minds all season.”

The win also marked the Trevians’ third consecutive sectional championship and fourth in five years.

“Evanston is a strong team and they’re heading in the right direction.” New Trier coach Matt Wendt said. “I’m happy about giving up only three goals but don’t like the five.”

“They were doing a lot of dropping this week, but we say that when they do that it’s time for our outside shooters to step up and it ended up that we scored more on those,” Barrett said.

The Trevians, who had defeated the Titans three times this season, including 9-3 last week in the CSL Tournament, got out to a fast start when Sarah Caywood scored 1:36 into the game giving her squad the early lead. Caywood scored 34 seconds later and it looked like New Trier might be on its way to an easy win.

However, it ended up being anything but. An Evanston goal 44 seconds after Caywood’s second goal cut the lead in half, but Barrett got the lead back to two on a goal with 32 seconds remaining in the first period. After an Evanston goal at the buzzer cut the lead to 3-2, it looked like the game was to be a high-scoring one.

But that’s when the two defenses took over.

The two teams combined for 17 shots, 10 saves and no goals in the second quarter. Each team had two turnovers in the period as well. The closest scoring chance for either team came when an Evanston shot with 58 seconds left hit goalie Lauren Engelhard’s fingertips at the top of the goal before falling to the water. Engelhard would make 10 saves in the first half, before making way for Elizabeth McKenna in the second half as part of Wendt’s two-goalies system.

“When there isn’t a stop in play, it’s tiring,” Barrett said. “We always say ‘if you score it’s nice because it gives you a quick break. It was definitely tough but we just gotta fight through it.”

The third period started like the second period went, slow and without any team being able to score. A goal by Emma Valdiserri gave the Trevians a two-goal cushion, all they would need with the way they were playing on this day.

“That goal was a game-changer,” Wendt said.

“That really changed the pace and the momentum towards our favor, especially since we had gone an entire quarter without scoring,” Barrett said about Valdiserri’s goal.

After New Trier drew an Evanston penalty with 1:57 remaining in the third period, the Cal-bound Barrett hit a shot with 1:47 to go in the third to give the Trevians the 5-2 lead. It would be the last goal New Trier would score, but it wouldn’t matter.

Evanston would score with 4:11 remaining, but McKenna made three of her seven second-half saves in the fourth quarter, preserving the win and allowing New Trier (25-8) to get back to the Elite Eight,

The Trevians will face Fenwick Friday at 7pm at Stevenson in the state quarterfinals. The Friars handed New Trier an 8-7 loss on April 1 in the Fenwick tournament.

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