Moses Brown’s Zoe Katzen, left, and Wheeler’s Izabelle Donahue go shoulder-to-shoulder for the ball last night.

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The Providence Journal / Kris Craig

CRANSTON — When Moses Brown field hockey coach Leslie Caito-Jones began preparing this year’s team for the new season, she purposely avoided using the words “title defense.”

Yes, the Quakers had won the Division II State Championship last fall.

But considering only three starters from that championship squad were back this season, Caito-Jones did not want this year’s players to feel they had to defend something that someone else had accomplished.

She, instead, challenged them to “capture one of their own.”

The Quakers responded to that challenge and indeed captured a title of their own last night with a 4-1 victory over Wheeler in the R.I. Interscholastic League Division II Field Hockey Championship at Cranston Stadium.

“When we first started out, (Caito-Jones) said to forget about last season. We’re going to start new,” said freshman forward Liza Green, who scored two goals and assisted on another. “So we started out as a team that didn’t really know each other and throughout the season we’ve accomplished so much and we’ve become such a better team. We’re a family and winning this game was just the icing on the cake for us. It showed us we could come back anytime and we could fight for what we wanted.”

In the rematch between last year’s state finalists, Moses Brown took a 1-0 lead a little less than midway through the first half on Green’s first goal. Apparently thinking the shot was wide-right, Wheeler goalie Alicia Pirraglia backed off a hit by Sherilyn DeStefano, but the ball instead bounced off the post and came right out to Green, who one-timed it into the net.

Sierra Olney picked up a cross from Chelsea Tate and knocked it past Quakers goalkeeper Luiza Smith’s glove side with about a minute left in the period to tie the score.

But Moses Brown wasted no time regaining the lead, as Lizzie Jones parked a free hit into the net just 1:34 into the second half.

“I really give a lot of credit to the senior class,” Caito-Jones said. “They’re great players. They’re great teammates, and through their leadership, they took this young team and became unstoppable in the second half of the season. Defeat was not in their vocabulary.”

Green struck again at 23:13, then fed a pass to Olivia Whalen for another tally about 2 1/2 minutes later to put the game out of reach.

“She’s quick and she’s strong in the circle, which you would never know because she’s 5-feet tall and 90 pounds,” Caito-Jones said of Green. “But she’s like a little flea that doesn’t give up, and she’s a great all-around team player.”

Wheeler had its chances in the second half, but Moses Brown’s defense, which Caito-Jones described as “the cornerstone of our team this year,” prevented the Warriors from capitalizing on any of their six penalty corners.

“Moses Brown’s a good ball club. I can’t take that away from them,” said Jean Carlson, co-coach of Wheeler with Jenn Vinnitti. “We were slow getting started, that was very evident, and we were fortunate that we were only behind by one. Then when we tied it up, I really thought the momentum started to shift. Then halftime came, which killed the momentum.

“My heart goes out to the seniors,” Carlson added of the Warriors, who finished the regular-season as II-North co-champs with Bay View with a 14-2 record. “They worked hard and they wanted it. I thought they played hard and left it all on the field, and the coaches are extremely proud.”

cthorn@projo.com