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FREEPORT — When Keely Furtney saw that senior midfielder Silvi Strong, the best player on the Freeport girls soccer team, injured her ankle in warmups before the season opener against North Yarmouth Academy, she was worried.

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“That really shook me up,” said Furtney, a sophomore. “I was like, ‘Oh no, what are we gonna do without Silvi?’ Immediately, we kind of had to move some positions around. One of our strikers had to go back to the 10, and that was really nerve-wracking to go onto the field knowing that this wasn’t the position we usually play.”

But with Strong helping coach from the sideline, Furtney quelled her nerves enough to score three goals and lead Freeport to a 4-2 win over the defending Class C state champions on Thursday.

“I can’t say enough of those young kids,” Freeport coach Dave Intraversato said. “They have a lot of energy. A couple cramped up, but they kept us in this game.”

Freeport’s high defensive pressure allowed it to keep most first-half possessions in the attacking half of the pitch. The Falcons found multiple openings on the right wing in the first 20 minutes, but through balls either went too far downfield for Isla Pattershall or Ella Tracy to get a good angle at the goal, or NYA goalie Jordan Nash (six saves) forced a shot wide by coming out of the net.

Freeport finally broke through in the 36th minute when Furtney chased down a ball that went through NYA’s backline from a crowded midfield and skipped it over Nash from the left side, about 15 yards out.

Forty-five seconds into the second half, the left-footed sophomore struck again from a similar spot.

“I’m just feeling elated,” Furtney said. “It felt really good to go out there, and I hadn’t had my best preseason. I was sort of nervous going out and I kind of went out there and I had some misses. Then my coaches just told me, ‘Breathe, slow down,’ and I just felt it click after the first one.”

NYA, which replaced 10 of its 11 starters from last year’s championship roster, struggled to establish offensive possessions that weren’t set up by footraces.

Sophomore Delphine Daniel, the lone returning starter who is set to undergo major knee surgery in the coming weeks, won one of those footraces against the Freeport defense in the 50th minute, sending a strong shot from the right side to the far left corner past diving junior goalie Karleigh Costello (four saves).

Furtney finished her hat trick in the 51st minute after reaching a throw-in that went over the heads of NYA defenders.

The Panthers did not curl up, as Daniel once again brought the visitors within one in the 71st minute by weaving up the midfield and unleashing another strike from the right side into the back left corner of the net.

Freeport junior midfielder Lexi Ritcheson scored an insurance goal with 49.4 seconds left by one-touching a cross from Pattershall near the right corner.

NYA coach Ricky Doyon felt like the game was closer than the 4-2 final score indicated, and he’s seen improvements in his squad since the beginning of preseason.

“We have 10 (new starters), so it’s been tough, but I think we’ll be OK,” Doyon said. “There’s something to build from today. I thought the girls played really well, playing a quality team, so I think that gives us something to start with, and we can dissect this game and see what we can improve on to move on to next game.”