PORTLAND – Lewiston wanted to be first – first on the puck, first to the net, first on the scoresheet.

By succeeding, the Blue Devils’ girls’ hockey team accomplished another first Wednesday: They will be the first to represent Eastern Maine in an MPA-sanctioned state final.

Junior defenseman Courtney Vallee scored twice in the first period and Lewiston held Greely to just three shots on net all game as the Blue Devils punched their ticket to the state girls’ hockey final with a commanding 4-0 win over the Rangers at the Portland Ice Arena.

“We had to get to the puck first,” Lewiston coach Ron Dumont said. “They were tenacious all night, and we did well to be that one step ahead of them.”

Vallee, one of a pair of defensemen on the team with more than 10 goals scored on the season, netted her first just 3:27 into the game when she pinched in from the point to slip a rebound into the cage. She buried her second on a shorthanded rush up the right side, firing the puck past Greely keeper Sara McKersie from the top of the right circle at 8:04.

“The puck was there, I was able to get quick shots off each time,” Vallee said.

Perhaps more impressive in the opening frame, beyond the 2-0 lead, was Lewiston’s shot differential. The Blue Devils outshot the Rangers 12-0 in the opening frame. They followed that up with an 11-0 effort in the second, though McKersie shut the door on any more scoring.

“She kept us in it, she kept her head in it and kept us in the game,” Greely coach Heather Geoghan said of McKersie.

“Their goaltender did a great job,” Dumont said. “We couldn’t buy one for a while, there.”

The Rangers managed their first shot on net 4:18 into the third period, and it was a dandy, forcing Lewiston netminder Stephanie Belanger to make one of her three stops on the evening.

Greely took a timeout, attempting to harness the pressure it had started to impress upon the Blue Devils. But that backfired.

Emilie Cloutier poked home a rebound at the top of the crease to McKersie’s right at the 5:51 mark, putting her squad on top 3-0, and Katie Cobb put the exclamation point on the evening when her shot toward an empty net trickled across the goal line as time expired.

“They did a great job of reading our plays and breaking up our systems,” Geoghan said. “We’re a passing team and we do a good job moving the puck against most teams, but Lewiston was one step ahead of us today.”

Lewiston will square off against the Biddeford Tigers on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston.