And they’re still alive after Oak Hill’s 3-1 win, but both squads still have some work to do.

The Raiders scored all three goals in the second half, with freshman Hannah Nadeau collecting two and senior Sarah Barbay scoring what was essentially the game-winner as Oak Hill picked up its season-high third win a row.

“We’re definitely playing well,” Barbay said. “We’ve been working on different drills and we really want to make the playoffs.”

Right now, both teams are on the outside looking in with one game to go in the regular season. The Raiders (7-5-1) will have to win at Lisbon on Monday and perhaps need some help from some other teams in Western Class B.

Dirigo (4-9), which stood to gain the most with a win against a Class B opponent, will have to upset St. Dom’s next Monday to get its foot in the door of the Western C playoffs.

“Now Monday’s a huge game,” Dirigo coach Sara Thurston said. “Overall, we’re a pretty young team. We have a slew of sophomores, which looking down the road is great. But I think for right now they don’t necessarily have that championship fever yet, so to speak.”

Kaitlyn Morang had the lone Dirigo goal.

After a first half dominated by defense, the Raiders put a dozen shots on Dirigo goalie Mariah Lafleur (six saves) in the second half.

“We changed the formation a little bit to spread out the field and attack a little more,” Oak Hill coach Nicole Camire said.

Nadeau opened the scoring 12 minutes in by tracking down a ball near the end line to Lafleur’s right and putting her left foot on a low line drive that beat the keeper to the far post.

“She has worked really hard all season to get where she’s at,” Camire said. “She controls the ball really well. She has a great field awareness. Her first touch is always a positive touch and it’s towards feet. She plays with her head up and we’re really glad to have her.”

“We were really looking forward to this game because it’s our senior game,” Nadeau said. “We’ve really gotten pumped up and trying to play to the best of our ability.”

Morang tied it after a hand ball gave the Cougars a direct kick. The junior went high to the far left post to score over Raiders keeper Kelsey Collins (six saves) with 23:07 left.

Lafleur maintained the tie temporarily with a fine diving save to her right to rob Meagan Crosby. But Lauren Beganny set up Barbay with a nice pass for what proved to be the game-winner with 13:19 left.

Morang had a chance to tie it again with another free kick resulting from a push by the Raiders, but Collins was able to retreat on her high-arcing try and haul it in to preserve the lead.

Nadeau added her insurance goal with six minutes left.

“We haven’t played like this all year,” Thurston said. “I don’t know if it was because it was a smaller field than what we’re used to. I’m kind of taken aback. We were not going to balls. We were passing directly to the other team, and they definitely capitalized on that.”

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