MADISON — Everything was against the Old Orchard Beach girls soccer team.

The odds, the fans, even the swirling winds.

But for a split second, the wind blew in the Seagulls favor. And on a Miranda Lessard kick, a screwball misplayed by Madison goalie Savanna Kandiko, the No. 7 ranked Seagulls upset the No. 2 ranked Bulldogs 3-2 in overtime of the Western Maine Class C quarterfinals on Tuesday.

“I’m speechless,” Lessard said. “It just feels so good.”

Old Orchard Beach (11-5), only in its third season as a varsity program, will play in the semifinals for the second consecutive season. The Seagulls are used to drama in the quarterfinal round, as they beat Dirigo 1-0 last year, with the game coming down to penalty kicks.

Old Orchard Beach head coach Heath Floyd said he was hoping for a good playoff run this season, but is now convinced his team has championship potential.

“Make a run as a playoff team, make some noise, and then with this group being seniors (next year) they can really go,” Floyd said of his expectations this year. “But I told them that this year, they’re really good enough, let’s not waste a year, let’s do something right now. Let’s do something this year.”

Tuesday provided a new set of circumstances for Old Orchard Beach. The Seagulls trailed the Bulldogs 2-0 with 20 minutes to play in the second half before scoring three unanswered goals.

“I was personally telling myself that this was done,” Lessard said. “But we definitely pulled it together and after we got that first goal, I put myself back together and thought, ”˜we could win,’ and that’s what we did.”

Abby Fucciani scored the first goal of the game for Old Orchard Beach with 20 minutes to play, finding an opening in front of the net before knocking the ball past Kandiko to bring the score to 2-1 in favor of Madison. Abigail Dubois, a freshman, saved the Seagulls’ season with six minutes to play in the contest, tying the score at 2-2 when she blasted a kick into the left corner of the net, forcing the game to go into overtime.

Both teams went back and forth in overtime, which seemed destined to go another 15 minutes, but with less than two minutes to play, Anna Foss dished the ball off to Lessard, who, from about 20 yards away, kicked the ball toward the net. At first, the ball headed straight toward Kandiko, who was positioned at the left side of the net. But with 10 more yards to travel, the ball started to tail toward the right side of the goal. It caught Kandiko off-guard, and she never had a chance to recover, as the ball skipped into the net, providing the Seagulls with the win.

“I didn’t expect it to curve like that, but it was sweet,” Lessard said.

Floyd said that game was not the first opportunity Old Orchard Beach has had to show its resilience this season, as the Seagulls came back on Waynflete in a 5-3 loss earlier in the season.

“Waynflete was up on us 2-0,” Floyd said. “We came back 2-1, they went up 3-2, and we tied it. We never went away and then tied it. These girls just fight. They know we have an offense that can score three or four goals a game, so if we stay in a two-goal range, we can stay in it.”

The Seagulls will need some of that magic on Friday, because they will be again playing Waynflete for the right to go on to the regional final. The Flyers (12-2) are the No. 3 seed, and have beaten the Seagulls in the two contests the teams have played against one another during the regular season. Waynflete also boasts one of the best players in the state in Becky Smith, who has 49 career goals entering Friday’s game, 23 of them have come this season alone.

“We played them tighter the second time around,” Floyd said. “We know each other very well. They have some excellent players in Becky Smith, Ella Millard and Walker Foehl. They’re a very good possession team. At their field, we struggled a little bit, it’s a little different size than ours. But we’ve played a totally different style, a different formation, and the kids have moved around a little bit. But they know who we are, we’re not going to surprise them.”

Maybe not surprise, but upset is a completely different possibility.

— Contact Staff Writer Dave Dyer at 282-1535, Ext. 318 or follow him on Twitter @Dave_Dyer.