EAST MILLINOCKET – Tight, stifling defense and solid goaltending. Those were the two main ingredients in George Stevens Academy’s Eastern Maine title-winning recipe this season.

At halftime in Saturday’s Class C state championship game, the Eagles were cooking again with a scoreless tie, despite a 15-4 shot advantage for North Yarmouth Academy.

But the dough stopped rising and the sauce started burning 51/2 minutes into the second half. Sophomore Alex Mack ignited a three-goal flurry over the next three minutes that turned a tight game into a foregone conclusion and led the undefeated Panthers to a 5-0 victory over GSA at Ron Marks Field on a brisk and brittle Saturday morning.

“No one was really that frustrated [with the scoreless first half]. We were all pumped up and just wanted to stick one in to take the pressure off,” said Mack. “After we got that first goal, we were really sky-high after that.”

Mack led the 17-0-1Panthers to their second straight state championship with two goals and an assist, but that’s not to say someone else wouldn’t have done it if Mack had been closely marked.

“There are some great players on that team. They’re good. What else is there to say?” said coach Steve Bemiss, whose Eagles finished 9-6-3. “I mean, you can contain one or two players, but you can’t contain six.”

Mack’s first goal came on a high shot to the left side of the net from 25 yards out. Her laser beam shot off a pass from Caty Von Brecht sailed over goaltender Kayla Eaton’s head with 34:32 left. Just 61 seconds later, Hannah Fuller scored on a direct kick to the left upper corner of the net from about 30 yards out. With 31:43 left, Molly Moss made it 3-0 on a kick into the left corner from 10 yards away off a pass from Mack.

“We kept the ball on the ground, possessed it, and took care of our scoring opportunities in the second half,” said NYA coach Jeff Thoreck.

The final two goals came on a Mack direct kick near the middle of the 18 to the left side of the net with 15:46 to go and a shot by Kim Morse after she kicked back a shot which caromed off the crossbar with 38 seconds left.

“We figured if we played the best game we can, no one could touch us,” Mack said.

The Panthers outshot the Eagles 34-5. NYA goalie Emily Staszak made four saves before Sarah Drouin came in to relieve her with 2:31 left. Eaton finished with 11 saves.

The Eagles managed only one shot in the second half – with 8:38 left to play.

“They’re a much better ball-control team than we had seen,” Bemiss said. “I saw them last year and I was in awe, and I think they may be even better this year.”

Bemiss’ Eagles could be even better next year, considering Eaton is just a freshman, he loses only four seniors, and 10 starters return.

“Yeah, all we have to do is work on our skills and hope they [North Yarmouth] get run over by a truck,” Bemiss joked.

The Panthers return seven starters.