AUGUSTA — It’s been a rare occurrence for the Madison girls soccer team to be in a close game this season.

But when presented with the opportunity by Temple Academy in the eight-person South final on Tuesday night, the Bulldogs were up for the challenge.

Tied 1-1 with 15:07 left in the second half, No. 2 Madison scored three unanswered goals for a 4-1 victory over the No. 1 Bereans to win the regional championship at Fuller Field. The Bulldogs (17-0-0), the defending eight-person girls champion, moves on to play Dexter, which beat George Stevens Academy 2-1 for the 8-person girls North title,  in the state final on Saturday at Hermon High School.

Senior Raegan Cowan led Madison with three goals, two of which were scored in the final 15 minutes. Fellow senior Ella Haynie added a second-half goal.

“We’re really excited,” Cowan said. “It’s a feeling we’ve been chasing all season. We’re excited that we finally get to go there.”

With her hat trick, Cowan has 67 goals, the most scored in one season in Maine, boy or girl, and just above Hodgdon’s Ava Ezell, who finished with 62 goals. Cowan has scored 125 goals the past two seasons. As a team, Madison has outscored opponents by a 114-6 margin.

“You’re always working to get more (goals),” Cowan said. “It’s never really (about) the total, it’s always (about) winning the game. If it takes three (goals to do it), it takes three. (Winning) was my goal.”

Senior Dixie Szabo scored the lone goal for the Bereans, who finished 16-1-0.

It was the first meeting all season between the two teams, and presented an intriguing matchup of two high-octane offenses that also boasted strong defenses, as both entered the match with 12 shutouts each.
Cowan gave the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead with 15:37 left in the first half, sprinting down the sideline before nailing a shot past Bereans goalkeeper Karissa DeWitt. Madison maintained the score going into halftime.

Szabo tied the game nine minutes into the second half. On a breakaway, Szabo managed to sneak a shot past Madison goalie Allison Tuscan before colliding with her, inching its way into the net for the 1-1 score. Cowan broke the tie six minutes later as she was awarded a penalty kick after being tripped up near the goal by Temple’s Sofia Isgro. Cowan powered a shot into the net for the 2-1 lead.

“(We said at halftime) to keep up the intensity and we’ve got to get that lead more than one,” laughed first-year Madison head coach Lauren Peters.

The Bulldogs added two more goals — a rebound by Haynie and a shot right in front of the net by Cowan — to seal the win.

“We were definitely trying to stay positive and encouraging our teammates (throughout the second half),” Haynie said. “It was a tough game and we definitely played hard.”

Madison kept Temple’s defense at bay with an old strategy Peters used as a player, and taught by her assistant coach, Mike Walsh, when he formerly led the program.

“We changed the formation this year,” Peters said. “They used to play a diamond back. We went with a four back, that’s what Coach Walsh went with when I went there. It took them a while to buy into it and now that they see how well it works, I think it’s worked out.”

The Bereans, who controlled possession throughout much of the first half, continued to fight throughout. Temple wraps one of the best seasons in program history, outscoring opponents by a 76-8 margin.

“I’m super proud,” Bereans head coach Amanda Isgro said. “This team was my most balanced so far. Temple’s never gotten this far (in the playoffs) and that’s huge. This season, they (understood) the game of soccer so much more than any other season. … When you see your team learn the fundamentals of soccer, that’s what I’m proud of. It just clicked.”