LISBON — Quietly, Lisbon High School field hockey coach Julie Wescott talked about a rematch with two-time Class C state champion North Yarmouth Academy after last year’s 1-0 Greyhounds loss to the Panthers in penalty corners in the Western Class C semifinals.

But first, there was work to be done for the top-seeded ’Hounds, most notably a Western C semifinal against talented Traip Academy on Monday. It was originally scheduled for Saturday but washed away by this past weekend’s heavy rains.

The rematch with NYA is set after No. 1 Lisbon slipped past the No. 4 Rangers, 2-1.

The win gives Wescott’s charges a 15-0-1 record, while the Panthers will arrive at the neutral field at Scarborough High School for Tuesday’s title game with a 14-2 mark.

“I didn’t want the girls to overlook today. They were so excited about the hopes for tomorrow, and now even though we have to play back-to-back, they are excited for this opportunity,” said Wescott. “Our motivation is to get better. We didn’t win our MVC game (3-1 loss to Winthrop), and they came and worked harder at practice. They realized they needed to do something to make their game better.”

Lisbon came out the aggressors and jumped on top 1-0 just nine minutes in. Arianna Kahler finished off a scramble in front, pouncing on a rebound of a Michaela Bedell shot and scoring past Traip goaltender Emily Bolton (13 saves).

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At that point, the Greyhounds held a 7-0 edge in shots and a 3-0 advantage in penalty corners.

However, the Rangers (9-6-1) pushed back, getting a goal from Sarah Noble just 1:30 later to tie the game. Traip kept coming, ending the first half even with Lisbon in penalty corners (four each) and limiting the Greyhounds to just one more shot after the early barrage.

“For our team, if the other team gets the first goal, we don’t sit back and it makes us want to go harder,” said Kahler. “That happened to Traip after we scored first, and we knew we had to step it up.”

“At the half, my girls realized both ends were even and just needed to step up after the shock of getting scored on right away,” said Traip coach Kelly Miller.

Kahler’s second goal came with 23:14 remaining, as she finished off a pass from Olivia Harrington for a 2-1 Greyhounds lead.

“We played too relaxed in the first half, a little bit flat, and I was quite blunt with them at the half and laid it on the line,” said Wescott. “We wanted to beat (our performance from) last year, and they took it serious and got the job done. We got the goal that we needed, and did better possessing in the second half.”

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This time, Lisbon kept the peddle down, using solid possessions to keep Traip from mounting much in the Greyhounds’ end of the field. Midfielders Bailey Cutler, Harrington, Molly Nicholson, Bedell and Jenn Smith helped cut the field in half, while Lisbon defenders Ali Bubar, Bailey Madore and Mariah Breton cleared the few Traip chances out of danger.

“We really wanted another chance at NYA,” said Cutler. “We hustled and just played our game in the second half.”

“In the second half, we stepped it up, especially after we went ahead,” said Kahler. “We’re excited. We’re going into the NYA game not overthinking it. All we can do is do what we do best. We’ve been playing since the beginning of June with this goal in mind. Now we get that chance.”

Lisbon finished with a 22-5 shots advantage. Both teams had seven penalty corners.

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