LEWISTON – A good start only got better Thursday night for the Edward Little girls’ soccer team.

Already starting the year undefeated, the Red Eddies continued that success with a 3-0 win over Lewiston.

Calli Murray, Olivia Paione and Piper Norcross each had goals as EL improved to 3-0 with the shutout win.

“We’ve had a good start against some pretty competitive teams,” EL coach Craig Latuscha said. “It’s a better start than we had last year. At this point we were 2-1 last year. Now we’re 3-0. Obviously we’ve got to play some tough teams coming up in the next few weeks. The girls have really bought into the system this year. They’ve been really working hard.”

For Lewiston, it was its third straight loss to start this year, but the Blue Devils have been competitive and been playing opponents tough. Thursday night, EL finished the chances that Lewiston didn’t.

“We’re getting there slowly,” Lewiston coach Brant Remington said. “The little things are starting to click. We have a formation that we like. We’re playing for each other more. It’s little connections that we miss every once in awhile. We have four or five good passes and one at the end where it falls apart. That just comes with experience.”

EL looked to be the more seasoned team and possessed the ball for much of the game. EL outshot Lewiston 16-4.

“The girls were making runs,” Latuscha said. “We made some good runs. We moved the ball well. We shot the ball pretty well.”

EL’s first two goals came off a few finely placed opportunities. The first came on a free kick from the side and another went in off a post.

“I give EL credit,” Remington said. “They attacked very well.”

Murray netted the first goal with 20:41 left in the first half. She had a free kick from the far right side. She curled it in toward the net where it went in untouched.

“That shot went just exactly where it needed to be,” Remington said. “It was right up over everybody’s head, high enough so the keeper couldn’t get her fingers on it.”

Lewiston had a bid early in the second half. Kristina Blais stole the ball from a defender and went in alone. Her shot was right at EL goalie Molly Murray, who finished with four saves. Lewiston also got bids from Adela Kalilwa and Kahja Gagnon up front.

Then with 25:29 left in the second half, Paione had a rush on the right side. She chipped it toward the net and watched it deflected in nicely off the far post.

“That second goal, we made a silly foul in the midfield and they just capitalized,” Remington said.

With 19:48 left, Piper Norcross made it 3-0. She put in a loose ball in front.

Kelsey St. Cyr and Liz Cormier combined to make eight saves.

“This year, it really comes down to finishing,” Latuscha said. “We had several opportunities to get leads in games we played, but we couldn’t put the ball in the net. Fortunately, we were able to put a couple of balls in the net.”

kmills@sunjournal.com

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