SACO — The Thornton Academy girl’s soccer team battled past visiting Bonny Eagle Wednesday night in a tough 2-1 victory.

The Trojans would take the lead midway through the first half when Hannah Niles knocked in a header from a corner kick, giving TA the 1-0 lead.

Both squads would battle until the halftime break, with TA retaining the 1-0 lead.

The second half opened just as tight as the first, with neither team able to establish momentum on the attack.

At the 22:20 mark, TA would break through when Alyanna Beaudoin scored from the center of the field to give the Trojans the two-point advantage.

The Scots would respond 11 minutes later, scoring on a Cassidy Koons penalty kick to cut the TA lead to 2-1.

The momentum would shift in favor of Bonny Eagle, as the Scots would put TA on the defense for the remainder of the game. Despite the added pressure, the Trojans held on to close out the win.

“We lost the last couple of games so we had our heads down from that, but we had to realize that to make it to the playoffs we needed a big win,” said Niles. “We came out hard in the first half and took it to them and we played even harder in the second half … I’m really proud of my team right now.”

TA coach Chris Kohl was also proud of the way his team responded after a handful of tough losses earlier in the season.

“It was huge – we have been in a lot of games where we had a lot of the possession, we have been down in the end and haven’t been able to get anything out of it … it was nice to finally see it pay off,” said Kohl.

The Trojans’ objective heading into Wednesday’s clash was to intensify the effort, according to Kohl.

“We talked about just giving that little extra effort,” said Kohl. “They just need to commit because you never know when the error is going to come and when a goal is going to come and that’s how we scored a couple of goals today.”

Beaudoin also felt that effort was the difference for TA.

“Effort was a huge part in the play. We decided that we would have to step up if we wanted to start getting some wins and I think we did that tonight. It showed that we wanted it and we needed it,” said Beaudoin.

Wednesday’s game had a playoff-feel to it, with each side engaging in a physical, gritty battle.

“We were a little shocked by the physicality,” said Niles. “We knew that they were Bonny Eagle but we weren’t ready for it. In the second half we came back stronger and really competed with them.”

Kohl was happy with the way his team responded as well.

“They were up for the challenge, tonight I saw how we can be,” said Kohl. “Bonny Eagle is a great team and they have a great keeper. We were able to get two on them on nice plays so it was great.”

Niles and Beaudoin hope the Trojans can build on Wednesday’s win and get the ball rolling towards the playoffs.

“We keep moving up each game but we can’t plateau. This isn’t enough – we need to keep getting better. We can’t think of this as where we are ending, this is just the beginning,” said Niles.

“We need to just keep going with what we have,” added Beaudoin. “We need to keep getting wins, get in the playoffs and get it done.”

— Sports Staff Writer Alex Sponseller can be reached at sports@journaltribune.com or at 282-1535 ext. 323. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.