“It’s the one we’ve been struggling with the most,” Messalonskee coach Katie McLaughlin said. “We must have done that one thirty times in practice (Wednesday).”

On Thursday, it only took one try.

Allison Corbett backhanded the ball out of the air past Oxford Hills keeper Shannon Fillebrown with 10:32 to play in regulation and the unbeaten Eagles survived a flurry of shots from the Vikings in the final minutes, hanging on for a 1-0 victory at the Gouin Athletic Complex on Thursday.

“Those first five, they just weren’t working,” Corbett said. “Even that one, I was supposed to receive the ball, and then push it into the cage, but I flubbed it a little bit. It popped into the air, so I just did a reverse and put it in.”

“(Corbett) does a great job for us, she does so well in pressure situations,” McLaughlin said. “I’m glad she’s on our side, for sure.”

The loss is Oxford Hills’ second setback of the season, and both losses have come to the last remaining unbeaten teams in Eastern Class A — Messalonskee and Lawrence.

“That was a great game, they scored a really nice goal to win it,” Oxford Hills coach Cindy Goddard said. “It looked nice, well-executed.”

Messalonskee had played three games prior to Thursday’s contest since ending Skowhegan’s 78-game win streak, and scored 21 goals in three wins. Despite again gaining the upper hand in chances Thursday, the Eagles couldn’t get the ball through the Vikings’ defenders, nor past Fillebrown.

“They definitely had more opportunities,” Goddard said. “Shannon played really well, she saw a lot of shots and she played well. She really doesn’t let anything bother her, there’s really no panic in her. That’s good for a goalie.”

“We knew they were going to play hard, Oxford Hills is always a tough game for us,” McLaughlin said. “They have really strong players and they made us work really hard in the circle for every chance. We had a hard time getting balls to the goal.”

The Vikings earned more corners — three against two — in the first half, and stayed relatively even in scoring chances. In the second half, the Eagles tilted the field a bit more in their own favor.

“We knew it would be tough and they came out harder,” Corbett said. “We had to fight through that, and at the end we wanted it more.”

Messalonskee held the ball in the Oxford Hills half of the field for most of the second half. The Vikings called timeout with 11:44 to play, ostensibly to rest their players and plan a counter.

Instead, the eagles capitalized, earning a penalty corner in front of Fillebrown, and then capitalizing on the chance on Corbett’s backhander.

The Vikings’ schedule doesn’t let up in the coming week. They host Mt. Blue, travel to Skowhegan and host Cony for their next three contests.

Messalonskee will square off with Lawrence in a battle of unbeaten teams Saturday morning in Fairfield.

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