LEE – The Lee Academy girls soccer team needed only 14 seconds to make a statement in its Class D regional crossover semifinal against Bangor Christian at Linscott Field Friday afternoon.

It didn’t take long for the Patriots to answer back.

But after a brief tie, the Pandas scored seven unanswered goals – four of which were credited to forward Deidra Ham – en route to an 8-1 victory over Bangor Christian.

With the win, Lee earned a spot in the Eastern Maine Class D final on Oct. 27. The Pandas will face the winner of today’s matchup between Van Buren and Greenville.

Lee, the No. 1 seed in the Northeastern region, is now 17-0. The Patriots, ranked third in the Southeastern region, finish at 8-8-1.

The Pandas took 25 shots and got scoring from a number of different players, which is one of the reasons they have been so hard to stop this season.

“Lee was definitely on [its] game today,” said BC coach Heather Guerrette, whose team fell to Lee twice in the regular season. “I’m not disappointed in how my girls played. They played hard … but Lee was definitely on top of [its] game, and it wasn’t just a few players. The Lee players were right there when we got the ball out [of the penalty area].”

Ham hooked up with freshman center midfielder Shelby Pickering for goals three times in the second half and Pickering netted a direct kick for a goal of her own late in the game.

Lee’s Ashley Gifford scored the game’s opening goal with 14 seconds off the clock, but the play actually started even earlier. Bangor Christian had the opening possession, but the Pandas stole the ball at midfield. Jenny Stevens got the ball, dribbled to the right wing and crossed the ball to Gifford in front of the goal for the score.

Patriot freshman Monique Veilleux tied it up about 81/2 minutes later when she drew out Lee goalie Katie Harris, dribbled around her and shot the ball into the net. Heather Niles had the assist.

Ham said previous games against the Patriots showed that Niles was a player to mark closely.

“We really had to key on [Niles],” she said. “She really hustles and we had to have someone on her.”

Lee regained the lead when Stevens put in a ball that BC goalie Kendil Snow had punched out of the penalty area. With 26 minutes left in the half Ham made it 3-1 on a goal set up by Ashley Linscott, who later knocked in a penalty kick with about 10 minutes left in the half.

Bangor Christian didn’t give up a second-half goal until the 16:51 mark and did have some sustained runs on offense in both periods.

But the Lee defense, led by sweeper Jessie Kuester and stopper Linscott, was right there to clear the ball. The Patriots had two of its six shots in the second half.

Harris finished with four saves and Snow logged 14.