LISBON FALLS – Livermore Falls arrived behind schedule for its Mountain Valley Conference showdown with Lisbon and only had about five or 10 minutes to get ready.

Fortunately for the Greyhounds, the Andies didn’t really get warmed up until 55 minutes later.

Except for a couple of flurries at the end of each half, Lisbon dominated play, taking a 3-0 lead in the second half. But the Greyhounds had to hold off a charge by Livermore Falls in the final five minutes for a 3-2 win.

In a scoreless first half, Lisbon (7-4) had an overwhelming quantity but not quality of chances. Then Kelsey Piche broke the ice 2:14 into the second half.

“They were executing their shots a little bit better (in the second half). They had 16 shots in the first half and they just weren’t quality shots. They were just kind of hitting and hoping,” Lisbon coach Mark Stevens said. “But in the second half, they looked up and started facing the ball better and stopped trying to knock the goal cage over with their shots.”

Sisters Makayla Stevens and Amanda Stevens added goals over the next 12 minutes as the Greyhounds appeared to be pulling away because Livermore couldn’t mount a consistent attack.

“Our midfielders really controlled the game,” he added. “They kept the ball off of the front line.”

“We’ve had a lot of trouble scoring. I don’t know why, but this time the passing and communication and everyone hustling was effective,” said Lisbon senior midfielder Christy McAuliffe. “We have a lot of team-builders to bring us all together, and we have a lot of communication in practice which brings us all together.”

The Andies (5-6) switched their line-up from a 4-3 to a 4-2 to clear up some of the congestion in the middle and were able to get a couple of breakaways. Annika Durrell scored with an assist from Chelsea Bilodeau with 5:15 left to get them on the board, then Whitney McDaniel pulled them within one on an unassisted goal with 3:44 to go.

“The way they played the last six or seven minutes of that game is the way they’ve been playing since the last time we played Lisbon,” said Andies coach Amy Richard, whose team dropped its home game to Lisbon by the same score.

Stevens called a timeout after McDaniel’s score to help the Greyhounds regroup.

“I told them ‘You guys gave them a little bit of hope. When you give a team hope, that’s the worst thing you can do for your opponent,'” Stevens said. “They came alive and almost tied it up. They outplayed us the last five minutes. They wanted it.”

Monica Laking made 12 saves in the cage for Lisbon, perhaps none more important that a kick save to deny McDaniel’s breakaway bid to the far post late in the first half. Caylee Morris had a dozen saves for Livermore Falls.

Morris is among four starting freshmen for the defending MVC champions, who, with just two seniors back, had a lot of holes to fill after reaching the Western C final last year. Richard said her team took its lumps early but is making strides as the playoffs approach.

“We had a really tough schedule,” said Richard, whose team concludes the season with arch-rival Jay, Dirigo and Mountain Valley. “We played Telstar first thing in the season. We got creamed by them and switched some things around, and lost to Lisbon by one and Jay by two. Then we had a pretty good stretch where we won four games in a row then lost to Winthrop in a good game and played Telstar a lot closer.”

The win solidified Lisbon’s spot in the top six or seven of the Western C Heal point standings.

“We’re going to be somewhere in the lower part of the bracket, even if we go 10-4 this year,” said Stevens, whose team has contests with Mountain Valley, Georges Valley and Boothbay remaining. “We don’t have any crossover games (with the Western Maine Conference, which features powers such as St. Dom’s and NYA), so we can’t compare ourselves with anybody from there. I wish we would.”