AUBURN — The Edward Little and Lewiston girls soccer teams have both struggled to score goals so far this season.

The Red Eddies had scored only four in their six games prior to Saturday’s rivalry matchup, during which they nearly doubled their season total with a 3-1 win over the Blue Devils.

Senior forward Breya Whitman netted two of Edward Little’s goals.

“I think it puts a little more pressure on us,” Whitman said of the Eddies’ lack of scoring heading into the game. “I mean, it’s our rival team and we really want (to win it). It just comes down to us at the end — you got to make it happen.”

Edward Little coach Miles Bisher said his only concern Saturday was getting a victory against Lewiston.

“I don’t think we think too much when we play Lewiston,” Bisher said. “I don’t think the girls need any extra motivation. They are going to get hyped for this game and not really think about how many goals Lewiston has scored or how many goals we are scoring. We just wanted to take care of business against our rival. And it’s always a fun game.”

Bisher said the Red Eddies had a good week of practices and played well at times in Tuesday’s 6-0 loss against Oxford Hills.

Lewiston (0-6), meanwhile, hadn’t scored in its first five games of the season.

“We have to work for everything,” Lewiston coach Jeff Akerley said. “I think in that first half, we came out flat, and I felt EL had more energy. They went to the ball a lot harder than we did.”

The Red Eddies’ (1-5-1) opened the scoring early in the first half when Whitman entered the 18-yard box and fired a shot into the goal.

Later in the opening half, Edward Little freshman forward Sophia Cote had a breakaway in the box after taking a pass from Layla Facchiano. Cote booted a low shot that beat Lewiston goalkeeper Jersey Cunningham (eight saves) with nine minutes remaining before halftime.

“Sophia works really hard, and Layla gave her a really nice (pass) from the wing on that,” Bisher said. “… Sophia was in the right spot and did a good job finishing. She plays with a lot of heart and hustle. She’s a big part of our team.”

Gabby Gerry, whose goals were instrumental in the Red Eddies’ two wins over the Blue Devils last season, had a couple of shots for Edward Little that missed the net in the first half — one sailed over the crossbar and the other hit outside the post.

“Hopefully, we can keep working on it and put more (goals) away, and ultimately, we have another gear to get to,” Bisher said.

Facchiano had another breakaway for Edward Little early in the second half, but her rising shot hit the bottom of the crossbar and bounced back into play.

Whitman scored her second goal of the game off of a rebound after Cunningham stopped a shot by Cote in the 10th minute of the second half.

Whitman’s efforts went beyond goal-scoring Saturday. After the game, Bisher named her the team’s Pressure Defender, for which she received a blood-pressure arm monitor.

“I was really going for the ball and getting some goals,” Whitman said.

Lewiston responded two minutes after Whitman’s second goal. Emily Bilodeau scored the Blue Devils’ first goal of the season with a shot from long range that snuck under the crossbar and out of Red Eddies goalie Izzy Jalbert’s (one save) reach.

Akerley wants Lewiston to build off scoring that goal and to play well for an entire game.

“We had expectations we would put together a good display of 80 minutes worth of good soccer,” Akerley said. “We had a good (first) half at Oxford Hills (a 5-0 loss) in our game on Wednesday. Obviously, we did not go to win that game, but we played a solid first half. Again, we haven’t been able to put together two good halves all year long — that’s our goal, to put together 80 minutes and go from there.”

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