PORTLAND – The Cheverus field hockey team felt the late-game pressure. But in a 1-0 win over Marshwood, the Stags withstood the Hawks’ final offensive push.

Awarded four penalty corners in the final four minutes of regulation Tuesday at Cheverus, including a final corner with 30 seconds left, the Hawks were unable to break through Cheverus’ defense.

“Towards the end it got a little shaky,” said Cheverus forward Julia Lambert, who scored the game’s only goal early in the second half. “The defense did a really good job, and they kept us out of a tough situation. But the last five minutes really were a team effort.”

Marshwood’s best chance to tie the game came with three minutes left in the first half, as the Hawks created traffic in front of Cheverus goalie Libby DesRuisseaux but were unable to create a shot on goal.

The late defensive stands allowed the Stags to remain unbeaten, despite being held to two shots on goal in the first half.

“It was a matter of finishing everything,” Marshwood Coach Lisa Truesdale said of the game’s final four minutes. “We have a tendency, sometimes, to sit back and in that case — 1-0 — we know we have to go all-out, or nothing. I told them in our last timeout, ‘there’s no holding back. Finish everything. Don’t become complacent.’ “

Still, the Stags (8-0) struggled to move the ball early against the Hawks (5-3), who broke up passes and whose defense tightly marked Cheverus players.

The Hawks didn’t allow a shot on goal until less than four minutes remained in the first half. Twenty minutes into the first half, Cheverus called a timeout. That’s when Lambert said Stags Coach Amy McMullin gave her team a directive. “We started to pressure the ball and we got more aggressive,” Lambert said. “We really just decided that we had to come out strong after that. And then at halftime, it was the same thing we said at that timeout. We needed to go hard to the ball and start completing passes.”

Off an inbounds play less than two minutes into the second half, Lambert batted down a rebound off Marshwood goalie Jacque Tworkowski (six saves) on the right side of the goal and pushed the ball past Tworkowski for the only goal of the game.

“Brooke Flaherty tapped it and Emily Rodrigue was there and passed it to me,” Lambert said. “I tried to poke it in but it went off the goalie, and there was the rebound. I thought we’d hopefully get another one, but things really started working for us.”

With less than 14 minutes left in the game, Marshwood began to create scoring chances, but the Stags defense was stout.

“They capitalized on that chance they had on goal,” Truesdale said of Lambert’s goal. “It was an even game. We like playing Cheverus. It’s clean, they’re a top-notch team and I think we hold our own. But I believe this game could have gone either way. It was very well-balanced and, unfortunately, we didn’t finish inside that circle.”

Staff Writer Rachel Lenzi can be reached at 791-6415 or at: rlenzi@pressherald.com

Twitter: rlenzi