AUBURN – Edward Little boys’ soccer coach Dave Morin was sick of hearing how well his young team had played in losses to Waterville and Brunswick this season.

If Morin thinks the Red Eddies don’t need any more moral victories, wins like Tuesday’s 3-0 blanking of Medomak Valley are the next logical step.

“We’ve been through two tough games,” Morin said. “Today was the first day we’ve had the ball a lot, so we’re really not used to it and we got caught in transition a few times and the defense looked a little shaky. But we handled it.”

Despite missing five key contributors, EL tilted the field to its offensive end almost the entire game, outshooting Medomak 24-5. But the Eddies didn’t have anything to show for it until junior midfielder Nate Guerette broke a scoreless tie at 27:52 of the second half, taking a throw-in and beating Medomak goalie Adam Morrill far post.

“Tyler Dorris had a great throw-in and I just ran onto it and pushed it over to my left foot and chipped it into the lower left-hand corner,” Guerette said. “I had already missed a couple with my right foot so I tried it with my left.”

The Eddies looked a little anxious in the first half, rushing through their sets and shooting perhaps a pass too early. They put a number of shots on net but never really tested Morrill or pressured him on several forays he made for saves far away from the net.

“We’ve played hard but we just haven’t been able to finish this year,” said Raynor Large, who added an insurance goal off a Medomak defender at 32:44.

“We lack poise, and that comes with experience,” Morin said. “We want to combine what we did today as far as being aggressive with a little bit more poise because the stronger clubs like Waterville and Brunswick are going to finish those plays.”

B.J. Levasseur made five saves for EL.

The Eddies played the game without five players who would have been part of their rotation, three of whom were suspended for violation of team rules and two of whom, Tyler Snow and Brian Dubois, are nursing injuries.

“That was another thing that may have thrown us off a little bit,” Morin said. “I’m glad for the kids that were here that were able to pull this out.”