RUMFORD – Becca Maifeld provided the spark Mountain Valley needed.

The freshman came off the bench to score a pair of goals in a 39-second span in the first half to send the Falcons to a 4-1 victory over Hall Dale on Wednesday.

With the game rescheduled to start an hour earlier, Mountain Valley (7-1-1) started slowly and trailed 1-0. The Falcons called a timeout in order to turn the momentum around.

“We didn’t hear that the game had been moved up, until noon,” Falcons coach Melissa Forbes said. “We scrambled to notify some with senior privileges, and the quickness was not there at the beginning of the game. So, I told (starters) that I’d insert substitutes in order to get things going. Becca (Maifeld) is fast and that’s what we needed.”

The change paid dividends as Maifeld scored her first varsity goal on a centering pass by Katie Doucette with 13:07 left.

Maifeld then scored the eventual game winner with a blast past Hall Dale goalie Megan Daigle (eight saves).

The Falcons had won six-straight games, before tying Livermore Falls 1-1 on Monday.

“We couldn’t tie, again, coach would have been upset,” Shawnee Akers said. “But, we also couldn’t afford to lose, either. Despite having six wins, we were still ranked seventh (Class B), and even though we had beat Hall Dale, there was no time to relax because they have improved a lot. “

Hall-Dale (3-7) scored first when Carrie Jones redirected a shot by Brittney Veilleux past Falcon goalie Emily Gallant (six saves) 2:26 into the game. Ellen Vickers, a Rumford native, had retired from coaching four years ago, but was asked to return when Hall-Dale’s coach resigned.

“We’re having fun,” Vickers said. “We did what we wanted to do in the first half and had plenty of chances, but we didn’t finish.”

Mountain Valley adjusted by moving its forward line of Akers (assist), Doucette, Knapp and LePage back for its first line of defense. The senior backfield Kadie Yahn (sweeper) and fullbacks Kiley Clement and Shainna Mills also received a contribution from Ayla Allen.

The Falcons struck quickly, again with goals 1:39 apart by Emily Knapp and LePage in the second half.

“A big key in this game was the play of the substitutes,” Forbes said. “We needed to be more aggressive, and they were inserted to do just that.”