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AUBURN — The seniors on the Maranacook girls soccer team saw their freshman season end in heartbreak in the Class C state championship game. For three years, the Black Bears have been trying to make it back.

After losing to Bucksport in the 2022 state final, Maranacook fell to eventual state champion Waynflete in the C South semifinals in 2023. Last year, the Black Bears were eliminated by eventual Gold Ball winner North Yarmouth Academy.

Maranacook was determined not to be denied again, and Phoebe Bell helped make sure that didn’t happen.

Bell scored a hat trick Tuesday as Maranacook won the Class C South championship with a 5-1 victory over Mt. Abram at Edward Little High School. The win sends the Black Bears to the state championship game Saturday at Cony High against Fort Kent.

“It means everything; it’s just a full-circle moment for us,” Bell said. “All of us seniors have been working so hard for this ever since (our freshman year), and we’re ready to be back and bring it.”

Top-seeded Maranacook (15-1-1) dominated in the early going, forcing Mt. Abram goalie Edna Bilodeau and the Roadrunners defense into action. Just over 10 minutes in, the Black Bears took the lead when Bell received a pass over the top and fired a shot into the top-right corner from 10 yards.

Six and a half minutes later, Bell found the net again. Hadley Farwell executed a flip throw-in, and Bell, who was in perfect position at the near post, rolled the ball past Bilodeau with a header.

With 13:27 left in the first half, Celia Bergdahl buried a penalty kick after No. 3 Mt. Abram (13-3-1) committed a foul in the penalty area. Then, with 23 seconds to go in the first half, Bell scored her third goal on another assist from Farwell.

“We’re really sharp, and for Phoebe to have a hat trick in a game like this was a great way for a senior to play,” said Maranacook coach Travis Magnusson. “When you score a goal or two early, it just loosens everybody up. We’ve been working on our shooting a lot, and we happened to finish.”

Both teams scored remarkable long-range goals in the second half. Maranacook’s Cooper Davis scored on a free kick from near midfield with 20:26 to go before Mt. Abram’s Evelyn Pepin fired a shot from just outside the box into the top-left corner after a run down the right flank.

Mt. Abram was the only team to beat Maranacook in the regular season, defeating the Black Bears 1-0 on Sept. 26 in Salem Township. Whereas the Black Bears let opportunities go to waste in that defeat, they were clinical this time.

“We just came out super strong and didn’t think about our other game with them,” said Maranacook senior Alice Ferran. “I think Phoebe scoring right in the beginning was big for us. Our energy as a team was just super, super high.”

Maranacook registered 13 shots on target to Mt. Abram’s three. Bilodeau made eight saves for the Roadrunners, while Black Bears goalie Stella Stewart, who noted she “was surprised to even touch the ball” because of how well Maranacook kept possession, had three saves.

Now comes the stage where Maranacook’s seniors were denied as freshmen three years ago. The Black Bears have less-than-fond memories of going behind early in the 2022 game, and the team’s seniors who were there that day at Hampden Academy hope to write a storybook finish.

“We’ve all been working super hard for this every year, and we’ve always gotten so, so close,” Ferran said. “To take it all this year as seniors in the last game we all have together, it would just be perfect.”