Immediately after the Hunt High girls soccer team’s 4-3 overtime win over J.H. Rose in the second round of the NCHSAA 3-A playoffs Thursday, cries of exuberance from the Warriors’ players could be heard across the field on a balmy evening in Wilson.

There were probably some less audible sighs of relief mixed in there too, as the top-seeded Warriors (21-2), champions of the Quad County Conference, survived an uncharacteristically sloppy victory against the 16-seeded Rampants (12-7) of the 3-A/4-A Big East Conference, a team they defeated 10-1 on April 27, on the back of a hat trick from Mariah Polk, including the overtime game winner.

“I don’t think it’s what they did tonight as a team, it’s what we didn’t do tonight,” said Hunt head coach Richard Frazier. “It may have been the heat, it may have been taking for granted a team that we had handed a pretty good loss to before. Our ball and our possession tonight was probably one of our most poor outings that we’ve had this year. And they capitalized.”

In addition to Polk’s three tallies, Kamryn Graybeal also scored for Hunt, which is without striker Madyson Brown after she suffered an injury in the regular-season finale against Fike, for the rest of the season. Valeria Zarate, Kate Conoley, Susan Guzman and Sam Mallol notched assists.

Hunt totaled 24 shots on goal, and Logan Boone made three saves in goal.

“It’s the playoffs, it’s a whole different game,” Boone said. “The whole atmosphere, the crowd, it riles everyone up. We’re ready for round 3 on Monday and we’re ready to go as far as we can.”

The Warriors got a golden chance to start overtime with a free kick for Cappa Bunn from the top of the 18, but her shot clanged off the goal post. Hunt would not be denied, however, as, with 7:12 left to play, Polk buried a breakaway opportunity to put the Warriors up 4-3.

“As we started to play and pass more, they got tired and it just opened up,” Polk said. “We had to find ways to work through that. We were tired, they were tired and we just had to find where it was opening up.”

After Polk gave Hunt the lead, the Warriors locked it down defensively for the rest of the game.

“I thought we were resilient in the thought process that even though the game went to overtime, we were still the better team,” Frazier said. “We had the majority of possession. I thought it was just a matter of time before we put a goal in. Once we got the one-goal lead in overtime, we kind of changed our structure to more defensive and not allowing them any chances. Once we put that in to go up 4-3, they didn’t get a shot on goal. So that’s a tribute to our training and things that we’ve worked on.”

After the final whistle sounded, an exuberant celebration ensued, with the Warriors surviving and advancing despite an off night.

“It’s exhilarating,” Boone said. “It’s always nice to be able to move on, especially in the playoffs. It’s a great feeling to celebrate with the team afterwards.”

After taking a 2-1 lead into halftime, the Warriors kept possession and piled up chances through the first 11 minutes of the second half, and finally buried one when Aldridge came out to play a ball but Polk got to it first, firing it into the empty net for her second of the game to make it 3-1.

Hunt’s missed chances continued to loom large when, with 22:50 to play, Scarlett Bean of Rose took a pass from Lauryn Taylor and buried it down the left wing to make it 3-2.

A foul against Hunt gave the Rampants a chance to tie the game with a free kick with about 10 minutes left, but Boone made a lunging stop to keep the Warriors in front. Rose refused to go away, however, and Taylor’s second of the game, a header off a corner kick from Bean, tied the game with nine minutes left.

“We gave them two set pieces, and they capitalized on set pieces,” Frazier said. “We can’t do that.”

Hunt had possession for pretty much the rest of regulation, but Rose effectively parked the bus, sending the game to overtime.

Hunt had a few chances within the first 20 minutes of the first half, but it was Rose that struck first in the 21st minute, as Emma West put back the rebound of a Baylee Schremp shot.

With 14:40 left in the first half, Hunt finally tied the game and dented the scoreboard, as Polk again broke into the clear and beat Aldridge with a well-placed shot to make it a 1-1 game.

With 4:55 left in the opening half, Graybeal put Hunt in front, dribbling into the 6 and putting a low shot past Aldridge.

The Warriors will host 8-seed Currituck County, which defeated 9-seed Carrboro 3-1 Thursday, on Monday, and know they’ll need a more complete effort to move onto the fourth round.

“When I look back and reflect on this game, we’re definitely going to use it as a learning tool,” Frazier said. “I think it is a good eye-opening experience and we’re fortunate to come away with a win tonight. We’re going to use this as a learning tool that we can’t take anything for granted. We have to earn everything that we get.”