SACO — A good sign to any winning program is continuing to win, regardless of who leaves and who stays.

If that’s the case, consider the 3-1 win for the Thornton Academy girls soccer team over Cheverus on Wednesday afternoon a good sign.

The Golden Trojans, who moved to an 8-1-1 record on the season with the win, are entrenched in fifth place in the Western Class A standings.

The casual fan can say it’s a typical year for Thornton, except for one fact. The Trojans have won this season with an entire new crop of players, after losing 14 seniors a year ago.

Thornton has continued its excellence at a blistering pace. After the win over the Stags, the Trojans have scored 41 goals in 10 games, and have allowed four.

But, while the Trojans have been winning, and averaging four goals a game while doing it, Wednesday was a confidence booster for Thornton, as beating the Stags, ranked sixth in the standings before the game, meant the Trojans can hang with any successful soccer program. Cheverus entered the game similar to Thornton both in record (now 7-1-2) and statistics (34 goals scored in 10 games, four allowed).

“This is new to a lot of kids,” Thornton Academy head coach Chris Kohl said. “It’s really difficult at times for them see the enormity of the situation, and I still saw that at times today, even though we came away with a 3-1 win. There’s still those times where they go ”˜Should I do this? Or should I do that?’ and aren’t as free (mentally) as maybe some of the other games. But at the same token, this gives them the experience. This is what a playoff game is going to feel like. The intensity, the physicality, all that stuff that you can’t recreate in practice.”

What may have been more impressive was the fact the Trojans hadn’t played a game in a week before taking on the Stags.

“When you don’t play for a week, sometimes you have to dust the cobwebs off,” Kohl said. “We had a stretch early in the season when we were playing every other day, and when you have that time off, you have to keep things fresh. But at the same time, you’ve gotten into a rhythm with everything that you definitely want to get going.”

Cheverus delivered the first blow of the contest when forward Sadie Lyons found herself on a breakaway on the Thornton side of the field and knocked a shot past goalkeeper Emily Richard less than 10 minutes into the contest to give the Stags a 1-0 lead.

But the Trojans came back, and with 12 minutes remaining in the half, Thornton tied the contest when midfielder Megan Hurrell sent a high, lofting kick over the head of goalkeeper Mikayla Mayberry to tie the game at 1-1, where it remained until halftime.

Jamie Durie, one of Thornton’s three senior captains, said she was proud of her team for coming back, an experience the Trojans haven’t faced much this season.

With strong winds swirling through Hill Stadium, the Trojans had the wind at their back to start the second half, and it seemed to help. Just three minutes into the period, Thornton forward Amanda Arnold took a Tori Daigle pass, lined up 15-yards from the net, and fired a shot into the back of the net to give the Trojans a 2-1 lead.

The goal for Arnold, a sophomore, was her seventh of the season, trailing only Jamie Durie and Camilla Olsson, who each have eight goals, for the team lead.

Thornton used the lead in its favor, keeping the ball on the Cheverus end of the field for most of the half. With 41 seconds remaining in the game, the Trojans were awarded a penalty kick after a foul. Katilyn Coburn lined up and knocked the shot into the left corner of the net with ease to seal the 3-1 victory for the Trojans.

The Trojans have two potential playoff teams in their cross hairs in the final four games. Thornton must play Sanford (8-2-1), who are now in sixth place in the standings after a 2-0 win over Biddeford on Wednesday, and South Portland (5-4-1) who is slotted in eighth place. Thornton hits the road in its next contest on Friday, playing against Westbrook (1-8).