BRUNSWICK – The Coastal Thunder of Brunswick advanced to the title game with a 3-1 victory over TSF Academy Celtic of New Jersey in a under-16 semifinal at the US Youth Soccer Region I Championships Monday at Bowdoin College.

The Coastal Thunder advanced to today’s 10 a.m. final here against Lower Merion Velez of Pennsylvania. The winner advances to the US Youth Soccer National Championships on July 22-27 in Little Rock, Ark.

Boys and girls finals will also be held today in age divisions under-14 to under-19 with games beginning at 8 a.m..

As the sole team left to represent host, Soccer Maine, the Coastal Thunder knew what it would take to beat the New Jersey club.

Matthew Hoffman-Johnson of Thunder said, “We knew going in they would be good. We knew we’d have to play a good, hard game. But, we didn’t know too much about them, so we just went in knowing we had to do, what we had to do.”

That’s exactly what the Thunder did. In the 21st minute of play, Amory Houghton slotted one past the TSF keeper and into the back of the net. With the 1-0 lead, celebrations rang throughout the field. Fans from all over Maine came out to support the local team and the crowd’s energy kept them going after a 63rd-minute goal by TSF that evened the score 1-1.

“Going in, I think our goal was to make it to Nationals this year. We make it to finals two years ago and lost. I think we have a certain hunger and we wanted to make the finals. This is just one step. Our goal, naturally, was a to win this game and play a good game,” said Thunder team captain Justin Rosner. “It means the world to me to be here and you saw the support we had. It means the world when there’s 10 minutes left and it is 90 degrees out here and you’re dying on the field. It just makes a huge difference when there are a lot people out there cheering you on.”

Less than 10 minutes after TSF scored, Rosner put one past the goalkeeper for a 2-1 lead and an 80th-minute penalty kick by Hoffman-Johnson put Thunder up 3-1 and into the final.