BRUNSWICK — Three first-half goals propelled the Brunswick High School boys’ soccer team to a Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference win against Edward Little on Saturday. The Dragons (8-3-1) edged the Red Eddies (3-5-4) 3-1 due to a late first-half surge and a solid performance from goalkeeper Josh Dorr.

Dorr, who made 12 saves, stopped a penalty kick with 6:13 left in the game to seal the win.

“I thought, ‘if I don’t save this we could end up in overtime at the least,’” Dorr said. “We’ve had a penalty kick this year and it went in so I was definitely thinking this is revenge. I wanted to save this one. We’ve been working on reading the hips in practice, and I guessed right.”

Both teams played evenly in the first 20 minutes. Each had their shots and opportunities, but Dorr and Edward Little goalkeeper Owen Mower kept the scoreboard clean, both tallying five first half saves a piece.

With 20:16 left in the first half, Keenan Welzel assisted Carlyle Boyle, who headed it in to give the Dragons the 1-0 lead.

“The first half was one of the best first halves we’ve played in a while,” Brunswick coach Mark Roma said. “We had a job to do and it was nice to execute.”

The Red Eddies countered with a chance of their own but, Max Gramins made the clear for the Dragons defense, something he and the Brunswick defense did all game.

“They’re really coming together,” Roma said of the defense. “We knew we were going to be a work-in-progress when the year started, but I like the way things are going.”

It was Boyle’s turn to assist Welzel when he found him on a cross with 7:19 remaining in the first half, increasing the lead to 2-0.

Edward Little had its third corner kick around the five-minute mark, but failed to capitalize, and Henry Doherty made the clear for the Dragons. Both teams had three first-half corner kicks.

With 3:35 remaining, the Dragons increased the lead to 3-0 on an own goal. Noah Imperato kicked it to the front of the net where JD Souza was credited for the goal when he and a Red Eddies defender went for the header.

“I’m happy with how we played tonight,” Edward Little coach Matthew Andreasen said. “The mistakes were really costly obviously, but I thought we actually defended very well. I thought our organization was pretty good but it’s just those mistakes, we made three really poor mistakes in the back and it resulted in three goals.”

The Red Eddies had nine first half shots, while the Dragons put up seven.

The second half was also fairly even, except the Red Eddies owned the final 15 minutes of play and put up another nine shots.

“We just moved some guys around,” Andreasen said. “We switched the formation up a little bit and it seemed to generate better movement and the kids played with urgency. We performed with a lot more energy in the second half.”

Edward Little scored its only goal with 14:16 remaining, when Alex Thompson crossed it off a corner kick to Mohammed Abdraba for the header. The Red Eddies had five second half corner kicks, while the Dragons had just one.

With nine minutes left, the Red Eddies had another opportunity to cut into the lead but Dorr punched it away for one of his seven second half stops.

Abdraba had a penalty kick with 6:13 remaining, but Dorr made the big save to put a stop to any comeback hopes for the Red Eddies.

“Nothing was bigger than Josh’s save on the penalty kick,” Roma said. “If that goes in, it’s 3-2 and everyone is else is tight and it could have been a whole new game.”

The Red Eddies didn’t quit, firing a few more shots in the final five minutes that were saved by Dorr and their best chance going just wide.

“I think we got a little complacent,” Roma said. “But in this league it’s so tight, you’re not going to dominate anyone for 80 minutes anyways.”

The Dragons had six shots in the second half, while Mower had one second half save.

Brunswick plays at Mt. Ararat on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

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