Moments after Susquenita pulled out a dramatic victory over Northwestern in the opening round of the state field hockey playoffs, the thoughts expressed by winning coach Jason Brouse were more about the Tigers than of his own team.

The Blackhawks’ mentor has tasted defeat in similar fashion, and couldn’t help but think about the players on the other side.

“That’s a great team over there,” said Brouse of Northwestern. “They’re very experienced, and I feel really bad for them because they’re good enough to move on ... I feel bad for their seniors because they played their hearts out.

“I’ve lost one like that this year so I know what it feels like, and I didn’t like that feeling ... I just feel for that other team. I know what they’re going through, and unfortunately every team is going to go through that except for the state champion.”

Not every team that loses, though, will do so in the same crushing fashion that the Tigers endured on Tuesday.

Susquenita converted on a corner play with 32 seconds left in regulation to force overtime, and then tallied the winning goal with just 19 seconds left in the extra period on a perfectly executed 2-on-1.

The emotional 3-2 triumph by the Blackhawks moves them into Saturday’s Class 1A quarterfinals, while the setback ended Northwestern’s season in a rather sudden fashion.

“I think down the stretch we just made some mental errors that put us in a position where we had to make certain plays that we couldn’t make,” said Tiger mentor Lissa Opolsky. “Overall, it was a pretty intense game and that’s what you’re going to get every time you step on the field for a state game. It just shows you that it’s not over until it’s over.

“They were a good team that had a lot of speed behind them. We just ran out of gas down the (stretch).”

Leading 2-1 after Hannah Gober blasted a shot into the cage off a corner play with 6:21 left in the third quarter, Northwestern held that advantage going into the fourth.

Gober nearly gave her team a two-goal cushion early in the final period of regulation, but Blackhawk goalie Sarah Clouser came up with a huge save on a penalty stroke.

“That was definitely a difference maker,” said Brouse. “I’m glad we were able to block it, although I was a little disappointed we didn’t finish ours in the first quarter, but I guess that kind of evened itself out. Then we got a player down before overtime, and then they got a player down right before overtime.”

Susquenita’s Alayna Conroy was the recipient of a green card late in the fourth, but a little over a minute after she re-took the field — and with a Northwestern player also forced out — she fired a shot toward the goal that was directed in by Kaydon Brandt to tie the game.

“She was the one that took the shot,” said Brouse. “There was a tip there, but she took the shot. Maybe that break helped, I have no idea. But with seconds to go, that’s about as dramatic as it can get in field hockey.”

The Blackhawks, out of District 3, topped that exciting goal with the game-winner in overtime. With time winding down — and with another Tiger out after being given a yellow card — Braelyn Prinz raced down the right side with Conroy well to her left. Prinz sent a feed over to her teammate, who found the cage to set off a celebration for the visiting club.

“That was a lot to take on in overtime, already having to deal with their speed and stuff like that,” said Opolsky of being down a player in OT. “It was kind of one thing after another, and once there’s that much pressure things can really unfold quickly.”

“We talked about finishing,” said Brouse. “We had trouble finishing all year, even though our record is what it is. It’s usually on corners, but just scoring in general. We’ve had a lot of missed opportunities throughout the year. Luckily we were able to put a couple together there at the end of regulation and overtime. We’ll see if we can carry this forward.”

Going forward for Northwestern means next season. And the Tigers will have to do so without a number of players on this year’s roster.

“It was a good season,” said Opolsky. “It was pretty indicative of our ups and downs in our season. We just didn’t have a whole lot of consistency from game to game, and it would have been nice to have more games of this caliber to kind of prepare you ... It was still a good season, a lot to be proud of and a lot to take from it. We’re definitely going to miss 11 seniors.”

EARLY GOALS ... The Tigers’ Ella Bressi opened the game’s scoring with 12 seconds left in the first quarter off an assist from Taylor Langley. Susquenita knotted the game in the second on a goal by Callie Brouse.

RERUN ... The Blackhawks also eliminated Northwestern in the first round of the state playoffs in overtime at Tiger Stadium a year ago. “We remember this last year here,” said Brouse. “It was stressful then, and it was stressful again but you have two good programs going at it.”

Susquenita 3, Northwestern 2

Susquenita 0 1 0 1 1 - 3

Northwestern 1 0 1 0 0 - 2

Goals: Susquenita - Callie Brouse 1, Kaydon Brandt 1, Alayna Conroy 1; Northwestern - Ella Bressi 1, Hannah Gober 1; Assists: Susquenita - Sydney Hetrick 1, Alayna Conroy 1, Braelyn Prinz 1; Northwestern - Taylor Langley 1, Melanie Schmidt 1; Shots: Susquenita 15; Northwestern 5; Corners: Susquenita 13; Northwestern 6; Saves: Susquenita - Sarah Clouser 3; Northwestern - Smolinsky 8.

Records: Susquenita (21-2); Northwestern (18-6).