WATERVILLE — The Messalonskee girls lacrosse team is rounding into form.

Tuesday, seven different players scored as the Eagles controlled play in a 16-7 win against Brunswick in a Class A matchup played at Thomas College.

The win kicks off a challenging week for Messalonskee (5-2), which hosts Mt. Ararat on Thursday and Cheverus on Saturday.

“We have a lot better passing (since the beginning of the year) and we can set up for each other better now,” said Messalonskee sophomore Nathalie St. Pierre, who scored three goals.

The game was close in the opening minutes. Sydney Gagne gave the Eagles a 2-0 lead with a pair of quick goals, but the Dragons bounced back, sandwiching goals from Anna McMillan and Grace Rabinowitz around a goal from Ally Fischang to trail just 3-2. St. Pierre scored three of Messalonskee’s next four goals, kicking off her hat trick after a nice feed from behind the net from Gagne.

“Last year we tended to be a team that looked to clear a lane and drive one on the goalie,” Messalonskee coach Ashley Pullen said. “We’re feeding cutters on attack and that’s come a long way this season.”

India Languet added a goal for the Eagles, who took a 7-2 lead into the half. The Dragons played their best to open the second half, getting quick scores from Sydney Anderson and McMillen to cut the Messalonskee lead to 7-4.

“We did much better this year (against them) than we did last year,” Brunswick coach Stephanie Fisher said. “I’m pleased with my girls performance, but there are things we definitely need to work on.”

But the Eagles had too much overall speed for the Dragons and moved the ball down field quickly. Fischang scored the second of her three goals to restore a foul-goal lead Languet upped it to 9-4 with a free shot goal with just over 12 minutes gone in the half.

“We have done a lot defensively, trying to tighten things up, and especially this game, we did a better job with our transition defense.” Pullen said.

After a goal from Brunswick’s Angelica Boyle, the Eagles scored four straight — Emily Hogan, Lillian DeLisle, Gagne and DeLisle again — to put the game out of reach.. Gagne would added her fourth goal of the game later in the half while Fischang capped the scoring with her third.

“It’s not like you can shut down one big threat,” Pullen said. “Anybody can be a threat for us.”

Messalonskee goalie Sydni Collier, one of two new starters this season for the Eagles, finished with 13 saves while Brunswick’s Emaleigh Aschbrener stopped 17 shots.

Gary Hawkins — 621-5638 | ghawkins@centralmaine.com | Twitter: @GaryHawkinsKJ