BUCKSPORT – When the final shot tally from an Eastern Maine Class B soccer playoff game is 26-6 in your favor, you’ve got to like your chances.

That usually means you didn’t have to sweat out a close game or make it through a tense finish. Yeah… Usually.

Not this time. Despite a big shot advantage on a chilly, overcast Saturday afternoon, the Golden Bucks’ 2-0 quarterfinal victory over No. 5 Fort Kent was full of drama.

The fourth-seeded Bucks (11-3-1) visit unbeaten top seed Presque Isle Wednesday.

The reason for the high degree of difficulty in Bucksport’s win could be summed up in two words: Mindy Morneault. The Warriors’ senior goalkeeper was simply sensational as she did everything but stand on her head to keep the Bucks from putting the ball in the net for the first 59 minutes and 44 seconds of the game.

Actually, Morneault may actually have stood on her head at one point as she got caught up in a scramble for a loose ball near the left (visitors) sideline, fell, and was inadvertently kicked in the head with 22:13 left in the second half.

The injury, which didn’t cause her to lose consciousness, forced Fort Kent coach Dan Cyr to take her out for just a little over two minutes.

“When she’s not in, our team is different,” Cyr admitted.

Morneault’s injury and the insertion of Kelsey Bouchard, a sophomore backup who was coming into the game cold, gave the Bucks an opportunity they seized.

With Morneault waiting on the sideline for a dead ball situation to happen so she could re-enter, sophomore forward Lindsey Gordon controlled a loose ball on the right side and zipped a pinpoint pass to junior midfielder Brittni Adams, who zapped a shot in from 20 yards out and just off to the right.

“I just dribbled into space, saw an opening in the middle and passed it,” said Richards. “We felt bad their top goalie had to come out, but it did give us an advantage.”

Morneault re-entered and continued turning aside shots with leaping, diving and lunging saves – including one off a penalty kick (for tripping) by Richards 11:18 into the second half.

“She’s a great goalie. We knew that coming in and she lived up to her billing,” said Jack Gordon, Lindsey’s dad and the team’s head coach. “I don’t like the thought we got our first goal just those few minutes she wasn’t in, but we needed a break, and we did finally score against her at the end.”

It literally was the end as Gordon took a long pass from Terren Hall, raced down the right side with one-on-one coverage and scored on a shot to the left corner beyond Morneault’s lunging reach with just four seconds left to play.

“Terren can kick balls in really well from across the field and I just ran onto the ball and shot it in,” said Gordon.

Morneault finished with 23 saves on 25 shots.

“They had to hit a perfect shot to get it by her and on that one, they did,” Cyr said.

Bucks goalie Katie Hurd, another sophomore, saved all six shots she faced.