Lisbon’s Siara Martin (8) battles with Dirigo’s Lexi Holman during a girls MVC soccer matchup at Lisbon on Tuesday. The host Greyhounds rolled to a 5-0 win. (Bob Conn / The Times Record)

LISBON — Both the Lisbon and Dirigo girls’ soccer teams entered Tuesday’s Mountain Valley Conference matchup looking for answers.

For the visiting Cougars, finishing out the season with a short bench is a goal for the 1-12 squad after a 5-0 loss to the Greyhounds.

On the other side, Lisbon, now 6-5 and slated to visit Mountain Valley on Wednesday, host Oak Hill Friday and travel to Monmouth Academy on Monday, is recovering from a big blow in the midfield with the loss of senior captain Giana Russo to a knee injury.

Kiley Merritt scored four consecutive goals in the second half after a scoreless opening 40 minutes to propel Lisbon to the victory.

Merritt, who was stopped by Dirigo goaltender Katherine Morse on a penalty kick in the opening frame, made it 1-0 at the 2:36 mark of the second frame after Siara Martin’s shot rang off the post to the right of Morse.

Merritt doubled the Lisbon lead four minutes later, and added two more tallies, the first assisted by Destiney Deschaines with 22:22 remaining.

Merritt’s fourth goal came after Morse went post to post for two of her 22 saves. Deschaines finished the scoring with 4:10 left.

“The first goal led to more goals, and it allowed us to know that we could win,” said Deschaines.

Dirigo showed its hand early, as Jon Blaisdell’s team packed it in on defense,

LIsbon’s Mackenna Poisson (16) and Dirigo’s Marissa LaPointe (4) nearly collide while battling for the ball in Tuesday’s girls soccer contest at Lisbon. (Bob Conn / The Times Record)

trying to keep Lisbon from setting up shop in front of Morse’s cage.

“We hunkered down,” Blaisdell said. “I have seven kids here that have never played soccer and they are starting. We are in survival mode. We are getting beat up, but we are keeping a good attitude. They are working hard. We have to stay in our opponent’s face to have success.”

Lisbon coach Jenniffer Perron was not pleased with her team’s first-half performance.

“We came out flat and there was no energy or communication. Yes, we took 15 shots, but only seven were on goal, and the others were all over the place,” said Perron. “We woke up in the second half. I think they realized that they were making themselves look terrible for no reason.”

“We kept trying to get it in, but the ball just wasn’t going into the net” added Deschaines.

Lisbon continued to make runs early in the second half. Martin in the midfield was a constant presence, along with Merritt, Deschaines, Mackenna Poisson and ShuShu Ring.

“I had Siara in center-mid with Giana out,” said Perron. “We thought about making some changes, but the team felt Siara was doing the job and we stuck with it. It paid off.”

“We know that (Giana) is here, supporting and encouraging us. We will continue to work together and make do with what we got,” said Deschaines.

Lisbon, which outshot Dirigo, 30-0, and finished with a 15-0 edge in corner kicks, kept the Cougars from rarely crossing midfield, and the pressure eventually led to Greyhound goals.

Perron feels her team will need to come out of the gates better as the regular season winds down with a challenging schedule ahead.

“We have to start the game with energy and with tenacity,” said Perron. “If we come out flat like this again against Monmouth and Oak Hill, the wins will not happen.”