BRUNSWICK — The first goal might have dented the confidence a little bit.

The second goal pretty much erased it.

When Brunswick scored a second goal in the first half Saturday morning, it was a situation the Oxford Hills girls’ soccer team hadn’t seen all year. 

“That first goal, Oxford was still in it,  but that second goal killed them completely,” Brunswick coach Martyn Davison said.

Brunswick scored  three times in the final five minutes of the opening half and added another in the second stanza for a 5-0 victory over the Vikings in an Eastern A semifinal.

“We broke down for about 10 minutes,” Oxford Hills coach Cortney Sirois said. “It easily could have been 1-0 again. We broke down there for those 10 minutes, and they cashed in.”

The Dragons (15-1)  beat the Vikings (8-4-4)  twice in the regular season, 1-0. No team had scored more than a goal in any game against Oxford Hills, which allowed eight total in the regular season.

This time, Brunswick got an early goal and quickly seized control of the game.

“I’m sure them getting the first goal, it brought our confidence down a little bit,”  Sirois said. “I was hoping one wouldn’t bother us, but it seemed to.”

Brunswick got a pair of goals from Dakota Foster and single tallies from Cassie Murano, Anna Cowan and Becky Champagne. Paige Tetu had a pair of assists. The Dragons outshot the Vikings 22-1. The Vikings only scored 14 goals in the regular season and didn’t get its first shot until the second half.

“We started off great,” Sirois said. “We came out firing. We had a little bit of a defensive breakdown and that cost us.

“I told them at halftime, at that point, we were playing not to lose. We had that conversation the other day. If we start playing not to lose, we’re going to lose.”

After the Vikings started strong, Brunswick got the first goal with 17:30 left in the half.  Murano weaved through the defense for a shot and scored.

“The first two times we played, we didn’t get an early goal,” Davison said. “We scored late in the second half in both games. They’re a defensive team, and they’re very good at defending. But if you get an early goal, it changes the game completely.”

The Dragons scored the second tally with 4:42 left in the half when Foster headed in a Tetu corner kick.  A little more than a minute later,  Cowan got an open look in front and buried it with 3:41 left.

Then, Champagne converted another corner by Tetu with 31 seconds left in the half. Foster added her second of the game at 4:25 of the second half.

“We just lost our marks on corner kicks, and they cashed in their corner kicks,” Sirois said.

Brunswick had a distinct advantage experience-wise. It was the first time any of these Vikings had been to a semifinal soccer game.

“It’s a big occasion for some of these players,” Davison said. “We pretty much play in these games every year. For Oxford, it’s new to them, and I think it showed a little bit. But they had a great year.”

The Vikings were just 2-10-2 last year and hadn’t even reached the playoffs for years. So despite Saturday’s loss, getting that far was a significant step for Oxford Hills, which loses seven seniors, but still returns a solid group of juniors.

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