Old Lyme — Old Lyme was playing a team it had beaten twice handily, combining for 34 goals in the previous two meetings, and the Wildcats began the game for various reasons Tuesday without two starters on attack.

Things got close, with North Branford pulling within 3-2 in the first quarter and scoring six second-half goals. Old Lyme coach Mike Murphy even called a few timeouts.

But it didn't take away from top-seeded Old Lyme High School's 15-8 victory over the No. 4 Thunderbirds in the semifinals of the Shoreline Conference boys' lacrosse tournament. The Wildcats will meet No. 2 Morgan in the championship game at 7 p.m. Thursday at Connecticut College.

“It was an ugly win, but it was a win, nonetheless,” said Old Lyme senior attack Jacob Fenton. “We're going to the first Shoreline Conference finals ever and if we win, that's what I'll remember the rest of my life. It's my senior year, my last year playing lacrosse.”

“We finally got our offense going,” Old Lyme coach Mike Murphy said. “We still scored 15 goals.”

The Wildcats (14-3) opened the game with a 3-0 lead on two goals by Henry Hunt and one by Ashton Bohan.

Before the first quarter was over, however, North Branford (5-12) pulled within one on goals by Brian McKee and Kevin Odell and had another opportunity with approximately two and a half minutes to go in the first on a breakaway by McKee that was stopped by Old Lyme goalie George Doll (six saves).

Coming off the bench, though, Fenton scored the first of his six goals for Old Lyme just 47 seconds into the second quarter on an assist by Sal Tinnerello and the Wildcats outscored North Branford 3-0 in the period to lead 6-2 at halftime.

The Wildcats continued their streak of unanswered goals into the third period, building the lead to 12-2 before they were done on their ninth consecutive goal with 4 minutes, 33 seconds remaining in the third.

Fenton did the most damage, assisting Ryan Powers on the first goal of the second half to make it 7-2 and then unleashing four straight goals of his own for an 11-2 lead. That gave Fenton five goals on his first eight shots.

“As soon as I got in, I wanted to do whatever I can to help the team,” Fenton said. “They weren't the nicest shots, but they went in.”

Murphy noted that in addition to six goals from Fenton and two from Hunt (Old Lyme's leading scorer with 95 goals) at attack, the Wildcats also had six goals from their midfield, two each from Tinnerello, Bohan and Powers, helping to balance the scoring.

The midfield, in fact, was one of Old Lyme's question marks entering the season along with the goaltending, Murphy said, while the attack and defense were pretty much settled with a returning all-state selection on each end (Hunt on offense, Josh Turkowski on defense).

The Wildcats have come along fast enough this season in those areas to be winners of their last 10 games, dating back to an 18-0 victory over Old Saybrook on May 5.

Next up will be Morgan, which is 1-1 against Old Lyme this season. Morgan won the first meeting of the teams 11-6 on April 16. Old Lyme won 15-13 on May 19.

Morgan reached the Shoreline final by topping No. 3 Valley Regional 21-13.

“We were a little sloppy on some of our clears, a little sloppy in some of our transition,” Murphy said of Tuesday's game. “We've been better on other days, but when it was important, we turned things around. I was very confident. These guys have risen to the occasion. It's good to be tested.”

v.fulkerson@theday.com

Twitter: @vickieattheday