FARMINGTON – It wasn’t their 11th shutout of the season but it very well could have been.

After dueling Messalonskee to a scoreless tie earlier in the season, the Mt. Blue boys’ soccer team finished the regular season with an exclamation point and a 3-1 victory Tuesday.

Though the Eagles (8-4-2) scored on a penalty kick late in the game, it was the only threat the Mt. Blue defense gave up in the second half.

“We were thinking that if we played our game this time and played to our full potential, we were going to beat them just like we did,” said Mt. Blue defender Dan Deveau. “We played together more as a team this time.”

The Cougars finished the regular season 8-3-3. Devin Ferreira scored the lone goal of the first half. Zac Conlogue and Ben Russell added tallies in the second half for a 3-0 lead. Messalonskee, ranked fifth in the latest Eastern A standings, was held to just three shots on goal in the second half, one was Cameron Omsberg’s penalty kick with 9:46 left.

“It’s good to finish off the season with a win,” said Cougar James Brann. “It definitely puts us in the right mindset for the playoffs. I think we’re beginning to see how good our team is and fully discover who we are.”

The Cougars were 10th in the latest Eastern A standings. The win should certainly bump them up a bit, but whether they can get to eighth and earn a home preliminary next week is to be determined.

“I was expecting the tie with Bangor would do something for us, but in fact we dropped,” said Mt. Blue coach Joel Smith. “How much we move up, I don’t know.”

The two teams appeared headed for another defensive struggle, but Ferreira found an opening late in the first half. He split through two defenders down the middle and fired a low shot to the left side with 8:03 left in the half.

Messalonskee had a pair of bids late the half. David Rossignol chipped one over the net, and Chris DelGiudice had a high shot saved by a leaping Joe Whalen in the Mt. Blue net.

The Cougars dominated the second half. Mt. Blue outshot the Eagles 12-3 and didn’t allow Messalonskee to get untracked offensively. The Cougars’ stellar defense controlled the ball and frustrated the Eagles. Along with Brann and Deveau in the back, Alex Prentiss, Tyler Morris and Ben Creznic helped keep Messalonskee at bay and effectively transitioned the ball the other way.

“The difference was the first game they dominated the midfield play,” said Smith. “I felt that was one of the things we needed to change to give ourselves an opportunity to win. I thought we did a pretty good job controlling the midfield.”

The Cougars made it 2-0 with 27:17 left in the game when Conlogue scored on a rebound. Prentiss put his corner kick in front where Ferreira headed it off the crossbar. Conlogue was there to put in the rebound.

“When we did get looks, we finished them,” said Smith. “The last time we played them, we definitely had good looks on them, but we weren’t finishing.”

Russell scored on a penalty kick with 10:09 left with a low shot past Eagle keeper Tim Davis.

“If we play together, we know we can take anybody,” said Deveau.