BANGOR — Bangor High School senior midfielder Megan Conner said her team has been telling dynamic freshman midfielder Eliza Jansujwicz to “be more selfish” and shoot the ball more.

Jansujwicz heeded the advice and rifled a perfectly placed 18-yard left-footed shot into the corner just 1:55 into the second half to extend Bangor’s lead over Edward Little to 3-1 and help the Rams earn a 4-1 triumph in a Class A North soccer semifinal on Monday.

Conner added an insurance goal just 2:19 later after Jansujwicz had flicked an in-tight shot off the near side post.

The top-seeded Rams, now 16-0, will take on second seed Camden Hills, 15-1, in a rematch of last year’s Class A North championship game, on Wednesday. Bangor won it 3-2 and captured the state title with a 2-0 win over Gorham.

Bangor, which has a 27-game unbeaten streak (25-0-2) dating back to a 4-1 home loss to Camden Hills on Sept. 22, 2015, will be seeking its sixth regional title in seven years.

Fourth seed Edward Little finished up at 9-4-3.

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Jansujwicz’s goal was just her second of the year and couldn’t have come at a better time.

The ball pinballed back to Jansujwicz in the middle of the field, 20 yards from goal, and she took a dribble and launched a chest-high shot past the left side of EL junior goalie Taylor Depot, who had no chance on it.

“It was exciting. I was hoping it would go in and it curved in,” said the 14-year-old Jansujwicz, who is primarily a right-footed player. “I was really lucky to get it. I found some space and shot and it went in. The goalie was kind of leaning towards the corner I didn’t shoot for, so I shot it the other way and it went in.”

“That was a gorgeous goal,” said Conner, who gave the Rams even more breathing room after Jansujwicz flicked Luci Clein’s throw off the near side post and it deflected to her in the middle of the penalty area.

Conner explained that Bangor coach Joe Johnson told them at halftime to follow up shots and attack the net and that’s what she did.

“I knew I didn’t have enough time to settle the ball, play with it and shoot it. So I just took a touch and shot it,” said Conner, who noted that the far side was open because Depot had to cover Jansujwicz’s shot at the near post.

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The Eddies stunned the Rams by scoring just 1:34 into the game when Grace Beaudet tracked down Piper Norcross’ high pass and took advantage of Bangor goalie Maddy Hodgdon’s late arrival by alertly flicking it over her.

But Bangor answered just 56 seconds later when Conner’s corner kick bounced through the goal mouth and Katie Butler ran to the ball and directed it into the goal with her body.

Center back Grace Morris gave Bangor the lead for good 6:33 later off another Conner corner.

The ball bounced around the crowded penalty area to Morris, who hit a low 15-yard shot into the far corner to Depot’s right.

Morris, Jansujwicz and Conner stood out for Bangor besides scoring their goals. The tireless Morris continuously won balls and either cleared them out of danger or dribbled away from EL pursuers, while Conner and Jansujwicz did the same in the central midfield, combining their skill and tenacity to fuel the attack and also help out in the defensive third.

“For the amount of skill and talent they have, we battled pretty well,” said EL coach Craig Latuscha. “Unfortunately, at the start of the second half we made a couple of mistakes and they scored a couple of goals. We had a great season.”

Hodgdon made two saves on three shots before Page Cadorette replaced her early in the second half and wound up with two saves on two shots.

Depot made five saves on 20 shots.


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