WINDSOR — It’s time to bring Kemari Wildgoose her Pizza Chef.

It’s said to the victor go the spoils. In the case of Wildgoose, a junior midfielder for the Windsor High girls soccer team, her postgame reward for scoring a header involves the finest the aforementioned pizza establishment has to offer. After bagging a brace — her first of the season — in the Yellowjackets’ 2-0 victory over Fair Haven in the VPA Division III semifinals, Windsor co-coach Jen Rupp joked that she and fellow coach Wendy Moody may have to up the ante.

At the very least, Moody will soon be bringing Wildgoose her celebratory lunchtime feast at school for the second time this fall.

Rupp and Moody crafted Wildgoose’s incentive in an effort to get her to head the ball more. Wildgoose had long rebuffed the notion that she should be winning aerial duels in the box, sometimes joking that she wouldn’t be using her head “because that’s going to hurt,” Rupp recalled Wildgoose telling her.

What did Wildgoose do in the 14th minute of play on Wednesday?

Well, she did what anyone would do when they’re unmarked at the near post on a set piece: She headed the ball into the back of the net.

Her previous qualms over heading aside, the result doesn’t come as a surprise. She practices that exact situation often. And when the reward is Pizza Chef, along with the added bonus of a state championship game appearance, there’s no wonder the ball ended up where it did.

The goal handed Windsor a 1-0 lead, one it would never relinquish.

Ten minutes later, Audrey Rupp drew a free kick just outside of Fair Haven’s 18-yard box. The senior forward has scored 101 goals in her career for the Yellowjackets. That tally could have very well reached 102 had it not been for a diving effort from the Slaters’ goalkeeper. But instead it was Wildgoose who scored her second goal of the game, capitalizing on a spilled save from the Fair Haven keeper and thumping the ball into the net from close range.

Just as instrumental as Wildgoose’s two goals proved to be — especially with Rupp man-marked and double-teamed all game, and junior forward Avery Ducharme sidelined with a hamstring injury — her play in conjunction with Windsor’s back line quartet was equally important.

The Yellowjackets entered the game wanting to stifle a speedy Slater attack. That meant man-marking, double-teaming and even triple-teaming Fair Haven’s Leigha Kretzer throughout the match. The defensive focus necessitated a shift in formation, one that saw Windsor employ a back three with a sweeper and a holding midfielder.

Junior Gabby Crane settled in centrally as the sweeper, with Jaylin Lyman, Cassie Clark and Brianna Barton comprising the back line trio. Wildgoose operated as a holding midfielder, her primary job to mark Kretzer.

The tactical shift paid off. Spare a late goal-line clearance from Crane, the Yellowjackets were rarely seriously tested in their own defensive third. Both Rupp and Moody expressed their delight at their squad’s ability to adapt and execute the pregame plan.

“It just shows that when you work hard, things like this happen,” senior goalkeeper Sophie Rockwood said of the win and impending state title game appearance. “Our whole thing this year has been to play together and then we’ll win together.

“That’s what we did in the game today, and that’s what we’re going to do in the championship.”

Pizza soon in tow, Wildgoose and Windsor are 80 minutes away from securing the program’s first state title. The Yellowjackets have come close twice this century, finishing as the state runner-up in 2003 and 2023.

Windsor might have hoped for a rematch with Stowe, the team that knocked them out of the last two postseasons by a combined margin of 14-0, but it’ll have to settle for the D-III top overall seed BFA-Fairfax. The two teams will meet at Rutland High on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m.

The messaging, from the moment Windsor commenced its preseason preparation to the present, now on the precipice of school history, has remained consistent. The goal has always been and continues to be on capturing a state championship.

“Last year, we knew we were kind of up (against) a tall (order),” Moody said. “It’s a different vibe this year. People know who Windsor soccer is.”

Alex Cervantes can be reached at acervantes@vnews.com or 603-727-7302.