BRUNSWICK – With 24 shutouts between the two girls’ soccer teams, an offensive showcase wasn’t likely Saturday.

So when Brunswick’s Stephanie Rendall scored her first goal of the season in the first half, the Dragons couldn’t have been happier.

“I thought before the game that one goal would win it,” said Brunswick coach Martyn Davison. “I thought it would be a 1-0 game. If you look at our playoff record, that’s how we’ve won all our games. Once we got that lucky first goal, I was confident, and it was a matter of making sure we were right defensively.”

Brunswick finished off its 14th shutout, second against Lewiston, in a 2-0 victory in the Eastern A championship game. The Dragons (15-0-1) meet Greely in the state game next Saturday. When Rendall’s harmless shot snuck through the legs of Lewiston keeper Alison Coleman with 15 minutes left in the first half, the Dragons were in the position they wanted. Kate Ross added the second tally for Brunswick in the final minute of play.

“It meant that we showed them that this is how we’re going to run the game,” said Rendall. “It kind of unnerved them. It gave us more power, and we just had to keep the lead. It was really nice.”

Brunswick’s defensive stance smothered Lewiston’s hopes of a comeback. The Blue Devils (12-4) managed just two shots on net the entire game.

“That was a tough game,” said Lewiston coach Rick Meyers. “They deserve all the credit in the world. They’re well-deserving to be the East champs. We tried a little bit of everything to try to matchup with them. They’re defense is a strong unit. There isn’t any better that we’ve seen.”

Rendall’s goal came during pressure around the Lewiston net. Her first shot missed and a cross by Jessica Timmreck gave her a second try.

“I’m not one for shooting,” said Rendall, a defender. “I like looking for the pass. My friend Tori (Pelletier) was like: Steph, you’ve got to take that shot when you see it.’ It happened this game. I was thinking about that. I took it, and it came back, and I took it again and the forces were working with me.”

Lewiston had a hard time mustering an answer. The Blue Devils’ all-time leading scorer Laura Martel was well shadowed while no other Blue Devils were able to make anything happen. When Martel got the ball in front for a shot in the first half, she had four Dragons around her. Late in the half, she had a rush down the right sideline. Her cross in front for Kelsey Varney was redirected wide.

Jennifer Timmreck, Lily Shipley and Kim Bilodeau seemingly always had her surrounded and made sure to collapse on her if she got the ball. The Dragons, however, won the ball in the midfield often enough to keep Lewiston at bay.

“We cut off the supply,” said Davison, who graduates just one senior. “Our defensive mids blocked the distribution. She didn’t get the ball very much in the second half.”

Lewiston came out aggressively in the second half. The Blue Devils moved Lea Chouinard up from the backline to help kickstart the offense. The Blue Devils best chance came with 27:04 left. A Martel corner was headed by Varney, but Brunswick keeper Linsay Hammond was there for the save. Allison Morin had a shot later in the half that went wide.

“We had the one chance with the corner, and then we had another shot when (Morin) came down the side,” said Meyers. “We have to have more chances than that to move onto the final.”