OAKLAND – Messalonskee had won eight of its last nine games heading into an Eastern Class A girls’ lacrosse quarterfinal Wednesday against Cheverus, but the Eagles didn’t realize how confident the Stags were.

Sixth-seeded Cheverus was coming off a win over Gorham, the No. 2 seed in Western Class A, and carried that momentum into Wednesday’s game, scoring the first six goals on the way to a 10-8 upset over the third-seeded Eagles.

“A lot of it’s confidence when it comes to the playoffs, and working together and not getting frazzled,” Messalonskee Coach Katie Gorham said. “I think Cheverus did a great job. They played really well and they really frazzled us. They got under our skin and we had a hard time reacting to that and pulling ourselves back together.”

Cheverus lost 10-4 to Messalonskee in the regular season but raced to a six-goal lead less than 20 minutes into Wednesday’s game. Four of those goals were by freshman Elyse Caiazzo, who did not play in the regular season matchup.

Cheverus (4-9) had three other freshmen in the starting lineup, and Coach Jamie Chamberlain thought the Stags’ improvement was mainly a matter of increased experience and confidence.

“The first game, they just were kind of bumping into each other,” Chamberlain said. “Today, you could see that flow and fluidity on offense.”

Messalonskee (9-4), which was flat and sloppy early in the game, came to life after falling behind early. Maddie Kadnar and Sara Grenier scored to pull the Eagles to 6-2 at halftime.

Two goals by Ally Delisle made it 6-4 and when Ali Omsberg hit a wide-open Abbey Stacey for another goal, the Eagles trailed 6-5 with 13:21 to play.

But Cheverus midfielder Sarah LaQuerre turned the tide in 11 seconds.

After grabbing control of the faceoff, she ran up the middle of the field and scored the first of four straight goals that gave Cheverus a 10-5 lead.