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MANSFIELD - It was only a matter of time.

Then the minutes kept vanishing. Chance after chance - shots, penalty corners. The Mansfield High School field hockey team ran out of minutes, 60 minutes of regulation time in fact.

But on the strength of junior Bridgit Davis' partial breakaway goal in the fourth minute of the 7-on-7, 'sudden victory' overtime period, the fourth-seeded, once-beaten Hornets of Mansfield High prevailed 1-0 over Barnstable Friday at Alumni Field.

The win now has Mansfield (15-1-3) on to the MIAA Division 1-South quarterfinals for another home date, this time with fifth-seeded Wellesley (16-2-1) on Sunday (time TBA).

The Hornets should have beaten the Red Raiders by three, four or five goals - it was that total domination. Barnstable had but three first-half shots and three penalty corners in the entire match. Barnstable crossed midfield just once (in the 48th minute) during the second half. And yet, Barnstable's defensive stance in front of goalie Allie Liimtainen thwarted the Hornets time and again - like six first-half shots and 10 more in the second half; like four penalty corners in the first half and eight more in the second half, in addition to two in the overtime session.

"We had a lot of chances out there," related Davis, who took possession of a loose ball inside Barnstable territory about 25 yards out and made a mad dash for the goal. Then she uncorked a short-side left shot high, which eluded the stick of Liimtainen.

"We kept saying to ourselves, when is it going to happen," said a perplexed Mansfield coach Theresa DeGirolamo. "We were hoping it was going to happen in the first half. We were hoping that it was going to happen in the second half."

It should have as the Hornet midfield cast of Meg Carroll, Amy Sterling and Davis refused to surrender possession of the ball to Barnstable. Hornet sweeper back Nicole Walsh had few rushes to repel and goalie Liz Doherty was watching action 50-75 yards away for most the afternoon.

After setting the tone in the first half, Mansfield did everything possible to put the Red Raiders away in the second half - with Sterling having penalty corners at 31 minutes, 40, 41, 42, 46, 59 and 60 and Davis having another at 53. Carroll had a blast denied at 41, Haley Wolfe had a reverse stick shot denied at 43 and another, a drive off the left wing at 46. And Erin Keogh had a terrific shot too at 52 stopped.

Barnstable packed 10 defensive players around the scoring circle, "they had everybody in there, then we started reaching and lunging," added DeGirolamo of the attack. "We had total command of the game - I was hoping to God that they didn't get it down there at the end." But Barnstable almost did in the third minute of overtime.

With four players removed from the field for overtime, the extra space forced DeGirolamo to put her best athletes on the field, "and that opens the game up."

Dennis-Yarmouth 3, Attleboro 0

YARMOUTH - The Bombardiers put forth a good effort, Lindsey Duquette and Emilie Ouellette taking ball possessions, but AHS was unable to sustain an offensive attack against the No. 8 seeded Dolphins in losing the first-round match in the MIAA Division 1-South Tournament.

Rachel Harden stunned the Bombardiers, scoring just 49 seconds into the match for D-Y. The Dolphins added a pair of second-half goals, one by Emily Cohen at 35:39 which really undermined Attleboro's effort. Jackie Collins netted the third goal for D-Y at 33:08. "The seniors did a good job, we made a good effort against a great team," said AHS coach Sue Hamilton, whose Bombardiers finished with a 12-4-3 record.

Dennis-Yarmouth, now 13-1-5, advances to Sunday's quarterfinals to play top-seeded and unbeaten (17-0-2) Walpole.

Harwich 3, Foxboro 0

HARWICH - Seven ties during the regular season - incidentally the most of any team in the MIAA Division 2-South Tournament - may have helped Foxboro when it comes to playing in close games and getting ready for the postseason, but it certainly didn't help the Warriors any when it came to their draw.

So, playing for the second time in as many days after beating Dedham in a preliminary-round game, the 16th-seeded Warriors were faced with the challenge of taking on top-seeded Harwich. And on the strength of two goals by Nell O'Connor, Harwich bounced Foxboro from the tourney.

"They were a strong team, had really different technique and their field was impeccable, like a putting green, and they worked that to their advantage," noted Foxboro coach Melissa Bordieri. "Falling behind by two goals was tough, it's hard to climb out of that, but the girls stepped it up, especially in the second half."

Foxboro trailed 2-0 at the break and was outshot 10-5 for the game. Two of Harwich's three goals were the result of set penalty corners. Despite the loss, Callie McLaughlin played well in net for Foxboro as did right-winger Kristen McMullen.

"We would've been disappointed not to make the tournament, so we were pretty happy with how the season played out, though seven ties ended up not helping us," said Bordieri, whose team finishes 7-6-7.

The Warriors will lose seven of 11 starters to graduation.