ATTLEBORO – The Bishop Feehan field hockey team knows a little too well about the dangers of the first couple rounds in the Div. 1 state tournament, losing its second-round matchup last year via upset.

With or without a crack at redemption in mind Saturday afternoon, though, the eighth-seeded Shamrocks (12-5-1) will get it by securing a resilient 3-0 win over No. 25 Brookline in first-round action.

Ava Meehan and Jordi Higgins assisted each other on their respective goals in the win, capping a relentless attack that was put to the test by a stingy Warriors (9-8-2) defense. Bridgette McGinnis’ tally was the only goal Bishop Feehan finished on 15 offensive corners, while its own defense didn’t allow a shot on goal.

The Shamrocks’ prize is a rematch with the No. 9 King Philip team that ousted it in last year’s second round. They play Tuesday at 5 p.m.

“That first game, you never know,” said Bishop Feehan head coach Betsy D’Ambrosia. “All the pairings, you just don’t know what you’re going to get – especially when they’re out of league and so forth. I think that as the game went on, we started to play more of our game. … They got it together and were able to pull it off.”

With defenders pushed up to the middle of the field, the Shamrocks had no issue applying continuous offensive pressure throughout. Getting a goal was a different story against Brookline’s brick wall inside the circle, but Bishop Feehan eventually got into its typical groove.

After the Warriors kept the game scoreless in the first quarter despite defending five corners, the Shamrocks got on the board on their sixth when McGinnis ripped a shot from the right side early in the second quarter – which deflected off a defender’s stick up over the shoulder of goalie Anna Dencker (nine saves).

Kay Murphy, Sammy Logan and Nora Catalano played signature roles in keeping the ball in the offensive zone for most of the rest of the game, helping Meehan and Higgins shake off the rust in the final two frames for insurance goals. Higgins intercepted a botched pass inside the 25 to assist Meehan on a reverse-chip rocket for a 2-0 lead in the third, then Meehan returned the favor with a pass to the stroke line that Higgins buried in the fourth.

Brookline didn’t make any of it easy, forcing a 27-minute gap between the first and second goals. Molly Newbold, Sophie Young, Mariana Sanchez-Dahl and Clara Thibault led the defensive effort to limit Bishop Feehan to 12 total shots on goal, even with 15 corners.

Keeping a cool head when facing that kind of defensive grind is key, which Bishop Feehan did perfectly.

“I think it was a lot about keeping each other in the game,” Murphy said. “When you have a lot of those missed balls and missed corners, it starts to get really mental. So making sure that we’re staying in the game. … We started moving the ball better and that’s when we started putting the ball in the net.”