AUBURN — Frustrated by both a lack of execution on the final touch and an amazing effort from Lewiston’s keeper, Edward Little stared for the better part of 50 minutes Monday into the beast that might have been a shocking loss to its cross-river rival.

Courtney Pelletier finally had enough. Driving through the middle, Pelletier — normally a left-side player — crossed with the ball to the right, and then back across the field to the middle. Her efforts spawned a three shot outburst from the left post that ultimately resulted in the Red Eddies’ first goal. Three minutes later, she then played her position perfectly at the left post, redirecting a pass from Jordan Tate past a diving Ravon Palmer, netting the game-winner for Edward Little in a tightly-contested 3-1 victory over the Blue Devils at Sherwood Heights.

“We just got tired of them having breakaways and we knew we just needed to get it into the back of the net,” Pelletier said.

“We kept getting opportunities and opportunities,” EL coach Greg Perkins said. “Their goalie was quick, but we also kept putting the ball right to her. We finally figured out, the goalie has pads and the rest of the cage doesn’t, and we made her move and got it by her.”

Despite allowing three goals in the final 10 minutes, Palmer was the reason the Blue Devils were in it as long as they were, coming up with save after save, sometimes four or five at a time as EL’s relentless offensive attack buzzed the cage.

“She fought a good fight today. She had to put up with a lot,” Lewiston coach Bre Allard said. “With being on the ground and having the ball still coming at her, to having to stop a penalty stroke to all the shots, she really put up a great fight.”

Palmer’s biggest motivation?

“It wasn’t going to be 8-0 again,” she said. “That game I had before was an awful game. We needed to come out more positive, get our own goals, and that’s what happened.”

The Blue Devils shocked spectators early. After surviving an early onslaught, Lewiston forward Kelsey Dumond caught the Eddies’ defense napping. She gathered a cleared ball at midfield and raced all the way into the EL circle, nearly untouched. She stopped 15 feet from the cage, reared back and buried the ball behind EL keeper Amanda Williams.

“It was so great to come out and show EL how we’ve improved over the season and score first,” Allard said. “(Dumond) needed that, too. She needed to come out against EL in her own personal way and score against them and really show the talented player she is.”

For EL, the lapse came immediately following an extended amount of pressure.

“That happens, the defense gets caught up in all of the offense,” Perkins said.

EL nearly tied it late in the first half after Palmer accidentally covered the ball while stopping another eddies barrage, but Tori Couture’s offering went wide of the cage to the right.

For much of the second half, the improbable prospect of a Lewiston victory started getting more and more possible.

Finally for EL, though, Lewiston’s bend-but-don’t-break defense finally broke.

Pelletier started the Eddies’ first scoring rush by weaving through the midfield. The ball eventually found Tate’s stick at the left post. The drive from in close went off a Lewiston defender and popped in over Palmer, trickling over the line.

“It seemed like when we were hitting it hard, it went wide, and when it was on the cage, we weren’t hitting it hard,” Perkins said.

Pelletier took care of that on the Eddies’ next offensive chance, this time from her more traditional spot on the left post. With 6:42 remaining, she finished a bang-bang play from Tate and Hannah Johnston to give Edward Little its first lead of the game.

“It had been frustrating all game,” Pelletier said. “Jordan made a great pass, and I just flipped it in.”

Johnston added one of her own with 3:16 to play, this time on a hard drive after stealing the ball on a muffed free hit to give the Eddies a bit of a cushion.

“I was pleased we played as well offensively as we did, I was not pleased with the defensive lapses,” Perkins said.

At 8-5-1, EL has likely solidified the No. 6 seed in Eastern Class A, though that won’t be official until later in the week. Lewiston finishes its campaign at 2-9-3, and will miss the playoffs.

“EL’s a great program, and they proved it coming back in the second half with three goals, and we couldn’t answer,” Allard said. “I still think we are in a good place to start next season. I think we proved by coming out as hard as we did today that we will be a team to be reckoned with next season, and I’m so proud of the girls for that.”