By Kevin Mills,Staff Writer

BANGOR – Its hopes for a second straight upset got Rammed in a hurry Friday afternoon.

After knocking off sixth-seeded Waterville in Tuesday’s Eastern A preliminary, the 11th-ranked Oxford Hills girls’ soccer team headed for Bangor with dreams of toppling another high-ranked opponent.

Those aspirations barely lasted the first eight minutes Friday as Bangor scored twice in the first 7:20.

Amy Hackett scored twice and Serena Dubois had one to lead the Rams to a 3-0 halftime lead that held up in a 4-0 Eastern A quarterfinal victory.

“You’ve got to be ready at the beginning of the game,” said Vikings coach Kyle Morey. “We had to come out on fire and we allowed them to turn and win the ball. They’re quality players. We gave them time and space and they finished.”

Oxford Hills had only allowed two goals to a team once previously this season. Despite the 3-0 deficit, the Vikings played strong in the second half and produced some of their best chances of the game.

“We did outshoot them in the second half,” said Morey. “I told them we would if we played hard. We played hard all year long. The first half wasn’t what we normally did all this season.”

Third-seeded Bangor (13-2) took a quick lead on its first shot. Dubois got behind a fallen defender and had a clear shot at the goal.

Her shot sailed into the left upper corner just 1:55 into the game. Erin McDermott set up the opportunity with a nice lead pass.

“We had to come out really strong,” said Hackett. “We knew they had upset Waterville. We had to put it to them quick and let them know that we were going to control the game.”

The Rams added to the lead at 7:20 when Hackett scored her first, taking a Jessie Roberts pass, turning and chipping a shot to the top of the goal.

“It was a reaction goal,” said Hackett. “The ball was right at my feet. We just came off a goal kick. So I was trying to get something on it.”

Oxford Hills persisted and plugged away.

Good play in the middle fed the ball up front often enough to generate some pressure on the Bangor defense, but the Ram defenders responded well by clearing most of the opportunities.

Only two teams have scored on Bangor this season.

“Our defense did an amazing job,” said Hackett.” That’s probably the best we’ve played communication-wise. Ilyse (Angst) came up really strong.”

Terry Bunce had a nice run and shot that was saved at the right post by Angst in the Bangor net. A header by Aly Fox off a Whitney Linindoll throw went wide.

Bangor nixed the Vikings hopes for a rally with a late goal in the first half. Hackett stole a bad clearing pass and fired a low shot that went in off the hands of a diving Samantha Rivers.

The Vikings didn’t relent and outshot the Rams in the second half. The Vikings had a nice shot from Caitlin Stauder midway through the second half that Angst stopped. Angst also denied Bunce, who had a chance on a redirection off a free kick. With 13:47 left, Bunce broke in behind the defense, but was robbed on a diving save by Angst.

“We started the season real slow, 0-5-1,” said Morey. “They made a great playoff run. “