When playoff time rolls around, it’s safe to say that the Warwick Co-op girls’ hockey team is going to play its best hockey of the season.

This year’s no different, as the No. 4 Lady Titans swept top-seeded Barrington Co-op with 3-1 and 3-0 victories on Thursday and Friday nights, respectively.

“This team has so much will and desire, it’s ridiculous,” Lady Titans’ coach Tom McCormick said. “It’s not one player, it’s a core of 10 or 11 that have been playing together since they were 6 years old, and they’re not the most skilled 10 kids in the state, but they literally will themselves to victory. I can’t be more proud of them. They’re just a great group to coach.”

However, Warwick did have the most talented player in the series, hands down.

After netting a hat trick in a 3-1 victory in Game 1 on Thursday night, senior forward Madison Balutowski picked up right where she left off on Friday night in Game 2. Balutowski would score two of the team’s three goals on Friday in the series-clincher, including the first goal of the game just 34 seconds into the first period.

That further plummeted the already-depleted confidence of the No. 1 Eagles, as Balutowski beat a defenseman wide, before backhanding a shot five-hole by Barrington netminder Erika Keller to give the Lady Titans an early 1-0 lead.

And Warwick would up its lead five minutes later when Barrington’s Grace Flaherty was sent to the box for checking.

On the power play, Balutowski took a wrist shot from the top of the right circle. Keller got a piece of the shot, but Kelsey Holmes put away the loose rebound in the crease, pushing the lead out to 2-0.

Barrington had a prime opportunity late in the first period on a point-blank shot from the slot from Mary Arkins, but Warwick’s freshman netminder Rebecca Yaseen was up to the task, cutting down the angle and turning the shot aside.

Yaseen would stop all 16 shots-on-net, as she allowed just one shot by her over the two-game stretch.

“She worked really hard in practice and had to get used to the high school feel,” Lady Titans’ standout defenseman Natasha Savage said of Yaseen. “The past couple of weeks, she’s stepped up huge and has played phenomenal.”

A main reason why Barrington’s offense hit a wall was because of Warwick’s defensive core. The three-defenseman rotation of Savage, Caroline Henn and Alyssa Mathews really stifled arguably the top regular season offense in the state, limiting its quality chances.

Savage, in particular, blocked several shots while also making key breakout passes and playing a possession game.

“When Natasha moves her feet she’s a different player,” McCormick said. “Tonight, she really moved her feet well and moved the puck north, which we talk to her about and not playing with it down low too much. When she moves her feet and is moving the puck north like that, I think she’s a heck of a player.”

While Warwick’s defense and Yaseen were making it difficult for Barrington to get anything going offensively, Balutowski continued her furious pace.

With nine minutes gone in the second period, Barrington was fighting for a loose puck out in front of Yaseen, searching for the goal that could’ve cut its deficit in half. However, Balutowski backchecked and came away with the loose puck, before immediately turning up ice. She would take the puck coast to coast and slip another shot by Keller for her second goal of the game, increasing Warwick’s lead to three.

There’s no question that the state’s all-time leading goal scorer is playing on another level than everyone else.

“She’s got a great, quick shot, a quick release,” McCormick said of Balutowski. “She has willed herself into one heck of a player and a great shooter.”

Warwick took a commanding, 3-0 lead into the locker room following the conclusion of the second period, and the Lady Titans wouldn’t budge an inch in the third period, either.

Despite a last-ditch effort to get on the board, Barrington just couldn’t solve Warwick’s defensive scheme or Yaseen.

The win advanced Warwick into the state title series. And with the Lady Titans clicking on all cylinders, it certainly seems like they’re going to be a tough out.

“Right now I think we’re playing the best hockey we’ve played in four years,” Savage said. “Even though we’re three schools combined, we have a lot of chemistry on and off the ice, so it makes it easy for us to communicate and play together.”

Warwick is still awaiting its opponent for the state final, as South County Co-op and La Salle were tied at one game apiece heading into Monday night’s decisive Game 3. Results from that game were unavailable at press time.

Warwick isn’t worried about its opponent, though. Rather, it’s just focused on sticking to its game.

“We know what we have to do with [South County] and we know what we have to do with La Salle so, at this point, we’re really not focused on who we’re playing, we’re just focused on what we have to do,” Balutowski said.