AUBURN — Kaylie Vallee thought she’d scored her first goal of the season early in the second half to snap a scoreless tie.

And she would have, had she taken one more step over the line and into the circle.

“I was so happy I was screaming, and then I was looking for the signal from the ref and she said, ‘No goal,'” Vallee said. “That’s happened to me before, too.”

It didn’t happen again.

Vallee lofted the ball into the cage past Lewiston keeper Kaylynn Labonte with 22 seconds to play in overtime — her first varsity goal — after a series of shots and good saves to lift the Red Eddies to a 3-2 win over the Blue Devils at Sherwood Heights on Tuesday.

“Yesterday we worked on drills just like that,” Vallee said. “Everyone was in there just trying to get it in. It landed right in the area, and I just flicked it in.”

That the game finished in an extra session was fitting. Both teams held one-goal leads in regulation, and both let those leads slide in short order. Shot and penalty corner totals for each team were within one for most of the afternoon.

“You could just feel how competitive it was out there,” Lewiston’s Tamica Connor said.

It was a tough battle. It’s always a tough battle when we play Lewiston,” EL coach Greg Perkins said. “I knew it was going to be one of those. And it’s nice to come out of here with a win.”

The Eddies (3-2-1) had the edge in the opening half in time of possession, but key stretches for Lewiston (1-5-0) kept the Devils in striking distance, and the home team on its toes.

“Lewiston is very similar to us,” Vallee said. “I thought it was pretty tough.”

After Vallee’s near goal in the third minute of the second half, Jasmin Wyman did put EL on top at 23:02 on a redirect from Brooke Lever that hit Labonte’s pads.

Eight minutes later, the Devils fought back. Kasey Talarico crossed the ball to the middle for Savanna Meheux who drove it past EL keeper Danica Nadeau for the equalizer. On a penalty corner just two minutes later, Talarico again found a teammate. This time, Avery Gagnon stunned the Eddies and gave the visitors a 2-1 edge.

“They have a couple of really good, really fast players, and if you let them beat you to the ball, they’re gone,” Perkins said.

But the Eddies weren’t done, either. Kirsten Lupher smacked the ball into the cage on a long pass from Lever with 10:22 to play in regulation. The teams played evenly into overtime, with both goalies turning back chances.

“The quality of competition in the game was outstanding,” Richardson said.

In overtime, Edward Little asserted itself.

“They came back and they played hard,” Perkins said. “And they played hard in the overtime. We dominated the overtime.”

EL nearly had nothing to show for that effort, until Vallee’s strike.

“We had all kinds of opportunities,” Perkins said. “We put five in the first game, but we’ve been struggling since then. This was a good win for us.”