FARMINGTON — The first half of Tuesday night’s Class A North girls soccer game between Mt. Blue and Mt. Ararat was a back-and-forth battle of two of the conference’s top teams.

But in the second half, the Cougars managed to find another gear, ramping up the offensive pressure and beating the Eagles 3-0 at Caldwell Field.

Alaya Smith and KK Daggett each tallied goals for the Cougars (8-0-0). Daggett, a senior, has scored at least one goal in each of Mt. Blue’s games and has 18 total goals for the season.

“We knew (Mt. Ararat) was going to bring their defensive play and we knew we definitely had to change our play,” Daggett said. “We just really wanted to bring our game, set the tone, set the intensity. Really just find each other and work as a team.”

Mt. Ararat (5-2-1) did well to turn away the Mt. Blue attack in the first half, despite the Cougars’ 5-1 shot advantage.

But Mt. Blue hit the scoreboard early in the second half, when Smith was able to knock a corner kick from Meren Zeliger for the 1-0 lead.

An own-goal by Mt. Ararat gave the Cougars a 2-0 lead with 21 minutes remaining. Seven minutes later, Daggett nailed a shot into the corner of the net for the final 3-0 score.

“It’s a pretty special group. We’ve taken it one game, one day at a time,” Mt. Blue head coach Griffin Conlogue said. “We focus on the game in front of us, no matter who the opponent is. The key thing about this team is there’s a lot of seniors out there, they’re mature, they’re dedicated to our team’s success.”

Caitlin Burke had four saves to earn the shutout for Mt. Blue.

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