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As soon as the playoffs start, every game takes on a fierce, do-or-die postseason intensity. That's what makes the state's everybody-qualifies format so exciting.

Exciting is exactly how Watkins Mill field hockey coach Michelle Pettit described her team's first-round game Tuesday night. The Wolverines knocked Wheaton out of the 3A West Region tournament, 1-0, with a last-minute goal.

"The win was exciting," Petit said. "This is my first year as a varsity head coach, so this was my first playoff win."

Both the Wolverines and the Knights had numerous opportunities to score throughout the game, but both teams kept coming up empty. The Wolverines only took the lead on a Jessica Gardner goal with under 2 minutes to play, off a Mara Van Bronkhorst assist.

"The goal was the culmination of our team wanting to win the game," said Pettit. "The key to the shutout was senior sweeper Vorleak Vuth. She led the defense."

This was not the first time Watkins Mill and Wheaton have met this year. In fact, the two teams met in the regular season finale six days earlier, a 2-1 Watkins Mill win.

With its second victory over the Knights, Watkins Mill advances to play perennial power Bethesda-Chevy Chase, coming off a first-round bye. Coach Pettit plans to have her Wolverines ready Thursday for the challenge.

"We're going to try and stun them," she said. "We are going to show them that we are a team to be contended with, and that we are better than our record."