LEWISTON — It was one of those good-but-could-be-better kind of halftime leads.

The Lewiston lacrosse team was up by two goals, but it was an unsatisfying advantage.

“The last few games we kind of lowered the intensity level,” said Lewiston’s Kelsey Dumond. “So at the half, we talked about really needing to pick it up. That’s what we did in the second half.”

The Blue Devils lit the spark at the half Tuesday and ignited a run early in the second stanza to break open the lead in a 14-6 win over Edward Little.

Lewiston opened the second half with three quick goals and built a 12-3 lead midway through the half.

“The first half, we didn’t pass as much as we should have,” said Lewiston coach Butch Dow. “In the second half, the passing game opened up for us. There was no continuity to it in the first half. The second half was so much better.”

Dumond led Lewiston with five goals, including two straight to open the second half to make it 6-2. Natalie Rousseau added four while Kayla Hamel and Lauren Lessard each had three. EL got two goals from Shelbea Russell and single tallies from Taylor Landry and Allaire Lever.

“We started off really strong in the first half,” said EL coach Jessica Somers. “We did a really good just keeping their scores low. The second half, they came out and got those three goals and we kind of broke down defensively.”

The game began much like the first meeting back in April. EL (5-6) scored first in that matchup only to watch Lewiston respond and open a lead in a 17-8 win. Landry put EL up in the first minute, but Lewiston answered with two quick ones. Rousseau cut through the middle to tie it and Dumond scored on a rebound of a Lessard shot. Rousseau scored again in front and Hamel followed late in the half for a 4-1 lead.

“When the other team scores first, its kind of a wake-up call for us,” said Dumond. “We know we have to pick up the intensity. We tend to start a little slow and pick it up towards the end of the game.”

EL got a Lever tally by scoring amidst a crowd of defenders with 3:47 left in the half.

“We had the intensity,” said Somers. “We had the heart from the beginning, but we just started making some silly mistakes.”

Lewiston (9-1) used its speed and quickness up front. The Blue Devils passed the ball more effectively and had the Red Eddies trying to keep pace.

“I think our communication has helped out,” said Dow. “That’s gotten better since the beginning of the season. The girls weren’t used to each other early on. They’ve settled down a little bit more now.”

After Dumond and Rousseau produced the three early goals for a 7-2 lead in the second half, Russell scored for EL to make it 7-3. Lewiston then got five straight to break the game open.

Kenzie Sullivan set up Lessard for a tally. Then Hamel carried it up field for a goal. Dumond scored off an EL turnover and Mariah Carrier pass. After another Lessard goal, Hamel set up Dumond for the 12-3 lead with 10:22 left.

“We were having a difficult time transitioning when we lost the ball,” said Somers. “They were able to move it up through the midfield so quickly on us.”

Russell got her second tally late in the half, but Lewiston finished strong with goals from Rousseau, Hamel, Lessard and Carrier.

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