BANGOR – John Bapst High School field hockey coach Gina Schuck said penalty corners hadn’t been one of her team’s strong suits. So she devoted more practice time to them.

It paid off on Tuesday.

All three John Bapst goals came off penalty corners as the second-seeded Crusaders beat seventh seed Mount View of Thorndike 3-0 in their Eastern Maine Class B quarterfinal at the Job Corps field on Union Street.

John Bapst, 13-2, will host No. 3 seed Waterville, 11-3-1, in Saturday’s semifinals.

“Sometimes, penalty corners are your only opportunities to get off good, clear shots,” explained Schuck.

The score was misleading as both teams mounted sustained pressure and Mount View actually outshot John Bapst 20-10, including a 15-3 edge in the second half.

But the Crusaders received exceptional defensive performances from Lizzie Kane, Marci Scofield, and Katy Jones as all three made timely clears and interceptions to prevent goalie Hillary Laferriere (5 saves) from having to make any difficult saves until the final 10 minutes.

Maegan Lincoln and Christina Andrle scored first-half goals and Natasha Duff added a second-half score.

Carrie Beverage and Lyndsey Cronin combined for three saves for 5-8-2 Mount View.

“We’ve worked on penalty corners a lot lately,” said Lincoln, who opened the scoring 14:58 into the game by finishing off a perfectly executed four-pass sequence.

She swept a Duff pass inside the post to the right of Beverage.

Bapst made it 2-0 when Andrle capitalized on her team’s sixth penalty corner.

Time had expired, but according to the rules, the defending team must clear the ball out of the circle to bring the half to an end.

The Crusaders were able to prevent the Mustangs from clearing it and, during the goal-mouth scramble, Scofield got the ball to Andrle.

“It was kind of a lucky shot. It deflected off a couple of sticks before it went in,” said Andrle.

“That goal definitely made a difference in the game,” said Mount View coach Linda Cianchette.

Mount View applied some early pressure in the second half to try to climb back into the game, but Duff’s goal, coming with 18:50 left, supplied the Crusaders with some breathing room moments after an alert Kane prevented a potential Mustang breakaway by knocking the ball away before the final pass could be made.

On Duff’s goal, she accepted a pass from Ashley Freeman at the top of the circle and took a low, hard shot that deflected in off Cronin’s pad.

Moments later, the Mustangs generated a five-shot flurry but couldn’t convert.

“We just couldn’t put the ball in the cage. We dominated the second half,” said Mustang senior fullback Cheryl Stevens. “They were very effective on their corners.”

Backs Stevens and Jenna Caler and forwards Britney Bowden and Mollie Arute shone for the Mustangs.

“We played a good game and I was pleased that we finished strong,” said Cianchette.