AUBURN — Edward Little scored first, but Lewiston scored often in the first half, and that made all the difference.

Taylor Landry netted the game’s first goal for the Red Eddies only 24 seconds into the game, but seven different Blue Devils combined for nine consecutive goals in the 17 minutes that followed as the visitors took a firm hold on the game and held off an EL rally in the second half to post a 17-9 girls’ lacrosse victory at Central Maine Community College on Thursday.

“I think we had some pregame jitters, and I think for a goalie, until you get that first shot, it’s tough,” interim Lewiston coach Butch Dow said. “Once she got that first shot, I think she settled in, and I think the offense settled in.”

Former head coach Christy Gardner was officially relieved of her duties this week. According to Athletic Director Jason Fuller, the matter is “an ongoing personnel matter,” and he would not comment further.

Lauren Lessard led the Lewiston onslaught with five goals and a pair of assists on the afternoon, helping the Blue Devils to their third win in as many games to begin the season.

“In the games we’ve played, we were lacking some communication,” Lessard said. “We’ve been spreading out a lot more and that helped us with our communication our transition, everything.”

The Eddies, meanwhile, played a tough game Wednesday against Oxford Hills, and showed signs of fatigue early in the game Thursday, even after scoring the game’s first goal.

“We have a small group and we had a lot of kids have to play two games yesterday,” EL coach Jessica Somers said. “We weren’t doing the simple things in the first half, the good catches, the good throws.”

Landry and Gabby LaPerriere had two goals each for the Eddies, who scored most of their goals on fast breaks through the middle.

Once the Devils’ defense shut down the middle, EL had a hard time relaying passes into the slot for solid scoring chances.

Lessard got things rolling for the Devils with the equalizer less than two minutes after Landry opened the scoring. Natalie Rousseau and Kayla Hamel followed, and Lessard, Emily Paione and Mariah Carrier kept the onslaught coming, pushing the Lewiston lead to 6-1 in the first 10 minutes of the contest. Kelsey Dumond, Lessard and Kenzie Sullivan pushed the lead to 9-1 before LaPerriere stopped the bleeding momentarily for the Eddies. Lessard and Rousseau closed out the scoring in the half for Lewiston.

“Once you start relying on one or two players for everything, teams see that and can key in on that,” Dow said. “Other teams will scout that out and they’ll shut those players down. We like our team to be well-rounded, and I think we saw that today.”

The second half took on a different tone all together, as EL shot out of the gate with four of the first five goals to cut the Devils’ lead to 12-6.

“Even from the start, when they scored one, we knew it was going to be a tough game,” Lessard said. “We really had to step it up. It was a competitive game. When they scored three like that, we needed to pick our game up and stay competitive.”

“I was proud they came out with the intensity we knew they had,” Somers said. “They scored some goal we knew they could score. I was very impressed with the work ethic in the second half.”

The teams traded 3-0 runs into the game’s final minutes, but Lewiston capped EL’s rally with a pair in the final two minutes to preserve the victory.

Sam Cote and Kirstin Burgess shared goaltending duties for Lewiston, combining to stop eight shots. EL’s Paige Landry and Julia Langerin also shared goalkeeping duties, and combined to stop 21 Lewiston shots.