The Bristol Eastern girls soccer team fought extremely hard against a talented Lewis Mills team Tuesday afternoon, but fell in defeat 3-1. 

Despite quality possession from Eastern at the start of play, Lewis Mills struck first 17 minutes into the game when Madeleine Croiger broke through the defense, and nicely finished off the play, giving the Spartans the early 1-0 lead.

The Lancers would not go away, however, as they continued to battle throughout the first half.

With 2 minutes left in the half, Emma Stavens fought off three  Mills players, won possession and played a great ball to Ciara Collins. Collins beat a defender and attacked the goal. Lewis Mills goalkeeper Resmije Bylykbashi (4 saves) was up to the task, deflecting the blast from Collins. However, Lili Morneault was crashing hard and buried the rebound in the back of the empty net to equalize the score heading into halftime. 

Abby Mills was a standout for Lewis Mills all day and created chances throughout the game. Six minutes into the second half she broke through the Lancers back line and gave the Spartans a 2-1 lead. 

The rest of the second half saw numerous chances for both teams but nothing of great quality.

Bristol Eastern’s Grace D’Amato (17 saves) was active throughout, keeping the Lancers in the game.

With just over one minute left, with BE pressing forward to try and find the equalizer, Lewis Mills’ Grace Buchanan put the game away with a nice header goal off of a corner kick. 

The Lancers drop back to .500, 5-5-1, and the Spartans improve to 8-2-1.

The Lancers will travel to New Britain Thursday for their last regular season game. 

Shots: Lewis Mills- 26. Bristol Eastern- 7
Saves: Lewis Mills, Resmije Bylykbashi- 4 saves 
Bristol Eastern, Grace D’Amato- 17 saves