BLUE HILL – As they have all season, the George Stevens Academy boys soccer team spread things out Thursday in an Eastern Maine Class C matchup against Penquis of Milo.

Not only did the Eagles play a wide game with good crossing passes, but four different players scored during the first half in a 4-0 win over the Patriots at the school’s athletic complex.

It was the 10th win of the season for George Stevens, which also has a loss and a tie, marking a turnaround from the 2006 regular season in which the Eagles went 6-6-2.

“We’re so much more varied in who our goal scorers are this year,” said striker Ryan Kurtz, who had one of GSA’s goals. “Last year we had three or four different people score. This year we’ve had a lot different people score, even in the close games, which is really, really good.”

Although Penquis had some first-half runs through the defense, GSA maintained control of the midfield and tested Patriot goalie Richie Russell.

“We wanted to try to push towards the goal as hard as we could,” said Kurtz, who scored the Eagles’ second goal when he drilled a ball on the ground past Russell with 13 minutes left in the first half. “They played really aggressively, so they were able to hold us off a little.”

Lucas Marks gave George Stevens a 1-0 lead with about 25 minutes, 30 seconds left in the first half. He was about 30 yards away from the goal when he blasted in a hard shot on the ground that hit Russell’s hands and went into the net.

Penquis coach Jason Mills said the Patriots allowed the play to develop even before Russell (eight saves on 22 shots) mishandled the ball.

“You make a mistake against a good team early, you give up a quick goal,” he said. “It’s a ball the goalie should have had, but it started with a turnover in the middle of the field. We said if someone makes a mistake in the middle of the field, we need to back it up, and we didn’t do that.”

Zach Weinberg made it 3-0 when he chipped in a ball less than a minute after Kurtz’s goal. Adam Strout came off the bench to score with almost seven minutes left, tapping in a deflection off Russell.

“Right place, right time,” Strout said.

The Patriots kept the Eagles from scoring in the second half and held them to seven shots on goal after GSA had a 14-shot first period.

GSA goalie Peter Dickinson (three saves on six shots) stopped several hard shots by Penquis standout Jerell Arefein, who managed to find himself alone at least twice in the second half.

“We’ve been trying to get our defense stronger as we get closer to the playoffs,” GSA coach Dan Kane said.

The Patriots (4-7-1) may be in a win-or-go-home situation with two games left on their schedule. They’ll probably need at least a win over Lee Academy Tuesday to get into the playoffs.

It was the second game Dickinson has started in goal while Rashaad Frazier has been out with a foot injury. Frazier is expected back for Saturday’s game against Fort Kent.