AUBURN – You had a team that’s been hobnobbing in the high-rent district of the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference against a team that hasn’t been able to buy a break for six straight games.

In true Edward Little-Lewiston fashion, it was hard to tell which girls’ soccer squad was which in a spirited, rainy renewal of that rivalry Saturday morning.

Katie St. Hilaire’s goal in the seventh minute stood up for the remainder of a 1-0 Edward Little victory, the Red Eddies’ fourth out of five tries in an impressive and mildly surprising start to the season.

“I guess there are rumors we are up there (in the Eastern Class A Heal Point rankings) with Brunswick and Mt. Ararat,” said St. Hilaire, a junior captain on an EL roster with only one senior in the starting lineup. “We have a winning record, and it was a really well-played game by us.”

Edward Little is only one victory shy of its entire output last fall, when it lost a preliminary playoff game.

This year, even bumps in the road such as this one leave everyone smiling.

“We have great team chemistry,” said EL coach Val Brown, whose team stuck candles in a pan of apple crisp and presnted it to her as a birthday cake after the win. “In a game like this where we’re not playing the way we know we can play, the camaraderie is the key factor.”

Lewiston (0-6) took an aggressive approach with the Red Eddies’ quick, explosive forwards. Resisting the temptation to pack it in, however, the Blue Devils actually produced a few peripheral scoring bids of their own.

Sophomore goalkeeper Kirsten Prue, entering the game at halftime after being away from the team 10 days due to a family trip, made seven saves in the second half to protect the one-goal advantage.

“We’re trying. It’s a constant battle for us,” said Lewiston coach Rick Meyers. “We’re getting close (to a win). If we keep the same energy we’re playing with, I’m sure we’ll get it sooner or later.”

Kathryn St. Hilaire registered the assist on the goal.

Emerging unmarked in the middle of Lewiston’s defensive zone, Katie St. Hilaire uncorked a slow, rolling shot to the left post. Devils goalie Katie Cobb made a diving stab on the wet grass, but the ball deflected perilously off the metal and rattled home.

“With the weather conditions, it was really important,” Katie St. Hilaire said. “If we’d come out in the second half zero-zero, they would have thought they were still in the game.”

As usual, wins and losses and quirks of the schedule meant nothing in this tweener game. Lewiston provided far more than a tune-up.

“They had nothing to lose. They pushed us off of a lot of balls,” Brown said. “I thought Lewiston did a real nice job taking us out of our possession game.”