Messalonskee goalie Kiana Carrier (back) leaps in front of Brunswick’s Eva Kousky (44) as Megan Hopper looks on during the first half of a Class A North girls soccer quarterfinal game Tuesday. The Dragons won 5-1. Eric Maxim/The Times Record
BRUNSWICK — The Brunswick girls soccer team wasted little time getting a jump on Messalonskee and the Class A North playoffs.
The top-seeded Dragons scored three first-half goals en-route to a 5-1 victory over Messalonskee in a regional quarterfinal game Tuesday evening. Alexis Morin led the way with a hat trick.
Brunswick (13-0-2) will host No. 4 Mt. Blue in an A North semifinal game Friday. The Dragons blanked the Cougars, 3-0, earlier this season. No. 8 Messalonskee finished 5-8-2.
Brunswick applied pressure early, and about nine minutes into the contest Hannah Lay booted a direct kick into the box and Molly Tefft’s header sailed just over the net. A minute later, Lay placed another ball into the front and Alexis Morin found the loose ball and tapped it in for the game’s first score.
“The ball was around in the middle and I literally got my toe on it and slipped it in,” said Morin.
Lay continued to put the Dragons in position to score and the duo teamed up again less than 10 minutes later to give the Dragons a 2-0 lead at the midway point of the first half.
“The key to these games is to get a couple early goals,” said Brunswick coach Martyn Davidson. “It just settles everyone down and you start to see us play, and I’m glad we did that because I’ve seen playoff games where you don’t do that and it gets a bit frantic.”
That showed when Kynli Van Leer connected on a redirect from Morin to extend the lead to 3-0.
Messalonskee’s Rylee McKay (9) and Brunswick’s Eva Kousky (44) both go for the ball during the first half of a Class A North quarterfinal game Tuesday night in Brunswick. The Dragons won 5-1. Eric Maxim/The Times Record
“I thought we managed the game well and the girls handled the conditions well,” said Davidson. “This is tough because it was wet and skiddy. Both teams did well with that (Tuesday).”
Messalonskee’s Emma Parsons had a pair of opportunities to score in the first half, but was turned away by Dragon goalie Sophia Morin and the three-goal lead stood into the half where the Dragons outshot the Eagles, 13-2.
Early in the second half, Parsons nearly beat the keeper with a direct kick from 30 yards out only to have it hit the top of the crossbar and out of play.
Alexis Morin completed her hat trick, scoring her third goal midway through the half off a penalty kick.
“I like penalty kicks. I like the nervousness a bit,” said the sophomore. “It kind of brings the energy and I just relax a bit and place it one of the corners.”
The Dragons scored their fifth goal with 13 minutes remaining, when senior Helen Maher found freshman Eva Kousky in stride. Kousky then beat Messalonskee goalie Kianna Carrier (three saves) for the score.
The Eagles did not go away quietly. With two minutes remaining, Parsons finally beat Sophia Morin (seven saves) for their only score.
“We wanted to come down and play a good game the right way and we did,” said Messalonskee coach Kirk Soule. “I’m proud of them, we had a good senior class this year after losing a lot from last season.”
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