LEWISTON – For much of the season, the effort has existed for the Lewiston girls’ soccer team. What’s been missing was execution.

Tuesday night, the Blue Devils put the two together to produce a thrilling 2-1 overtime victory over Edward Little.

“We’re really excited,” said Lewiston forward Kelsey Rodrigue. “It’s good to win because the first EL game we lost.”

Rodrigue scored both goals for the Blue Devils (2-9-1). Her second came with 2:30 left in the second overtime. Emilie Cloutier seized possession and put the ball toward the net. It was deflected in front and landed at Rodrigue’s feet, where she chipped it under the crossbar.

The victory keeps the Maca Roddy Memorial Trophy in Lewiston’s possession for another year. The trophy, in honor of the former EL goaltender, goes to the winner of the second meeting between the two rivals. Rodrigue was named the Blue Devil’s MVP while EL’s Katelyn St. Hilaire was EL’s honoree.

“It really picks up our spirits and makes us work harder,” said Rodrigue. “The defense really picked it up this game. They were sending good balls to the forwards.”

The win hampered EL’s playoffs hopes. EL (5-7) is 14th in the latest Eastern A standings and just a few points behind Skowhegan and Brewer.

“I thought we played 47 solid minutes of soccer,” said EL coach Val Brown. “We certainly didn’t come focused and ready to play at the beginning of the game. We allowed ourselves to get locked in, and it really put a lot of pressure on us defensively. They were able to capitalize once and luckily only once.”

Lewiston outshot EL 5-1 to start the game and took the 1-0 lead at 17:26. Off a Lewiston throw from the left side, the ball ended up in front of the net where Rodrigue popped it over EL’s Brittney French.

Lewiston couldn’t turn its pressure into more scores and by the end of the first half, EL began to get back on track.

In the second half, EL dominated the second half. The Red Eddies tied it with 21:47 left with a Kirsten Prue goal. She beat a defender and fired a shot at Lewiston keeper Katie Cobb. After making the save, Cobb tried to cover the ball, but Prue beat her to it and put it home.

“The major adjustment was effort,” said Brown. “We needed to win 50/50 balls. We needed to go shoulder to shoulder. We needed to have some initiative. We needed some aggressiveness offensively. My hat’s off to my kids, talk about a huge change from one half to another, but you can’t win a soccer game playing only 47 minutes.”

Lewiston weathered EL’s charge in the second half and mounted a rally of its own. Alex White and Sasha Roy each had quality shots late in regulation. St. Hilaire also had a nice run for a shot that went wide for EL.

“Throughout the year, that’s when we’ve let another one in,” said Lewiston coach Rick Meyers. “I think they held their composure, and Katie Cobb had a big night with a couple of big saves.

“That’s what we’ve been looking for, a full 80 minutes. Game after game, we’ve been trying to work harder than the game before.”