Waterford — The first thing Mia Brennan did in Tuesday night's game was knock the wind out of her teammate, Waterford's all-state forward Claire Hurley, with both rising in the air trying for a header.

Her next feat was significantly more memorable.

With Hurley back in the game after a four-minute absence to catch her breath, she delivered the corner kick from the right side which bounced off one Waterford player and rebounded to a waiting Brennan, who knocked it in for the game's only goal in a 1-0 victory over Stonington, a significant milestone for the Lancers in the Eastern Connecticut Conference Medium Division.

"It just, like, deflected off another player and I followed it," Brennan said. "It feels really good. Anytime we go against them it's a rivalry game. It's a good feeling to get the win."

The victory left the Waterford High School girls' soccer team 5-1-1 overall, 2-0-1 and in first place in the Medium Division, with Stonington, the division's defending champion, dropping to 6-2 overall, 2-2 in the ECC.

"It was a good, tough division win," Waterford coach Chris Ghiglia said. "We played them four times last year and all four were one-goal games. I was talking to some people and they said that going back for years (against Stonington) they're one-goal games."

Brennan's goal came with 20 minutes, 3 seconds remaining in the first half. Stonington was by no means done, especially with all-state senior defender Sarah Thomas slugging several direct kicks at Waterford goalie Jordan Kovacs.

Kovacs, however, held, as did a Waterford defense led by center backs Jacklyn Lavoie and Mackenzie Merriman, which has only given up three goals all season.

"Jordan was composed," said Ghiglia, who called his goalie the game's MVP. "Especially with the high balls in the lights, it's easy to misread one. ... We kept Stonington in front of us. Playing East Lyme (a 1-0 loss in overtime) helped a lot. We were defensively compact. We frustrated them a little bit."

"We just expect them to take the free kicks quickly," Kovacs said. "Claire lines up the wall and I just stand there. I just feel like our back (line) is composed."

Another key play in the game, and perhaps the most exciting to watch, came from Stonington goalkeeper Taty LaFrance Boyce, in her first year playing soccer.

LaFrance Boyce, Stonington's all-conference guard in basketball, also undertook the high jump during her first-ever track season this spring, where she tied for third in the State Open and qualified for nationals. Soccer? Why not?

Faced with a one-on-one against Hurley, LaFrance Boyce dove to her left with 2:23 left in the first half, just as Hurley passed the ball to Waterford's Riva Blinderman on the left post. LaFrance Boyce got up, raced across the net and made a diving stop of Blinderman's shot, which just a fraction of a second before would have been into an open net.

"You saw her," Stonington coach Dave Walsh said of LaFrance Boyce. "She's a great athlete. She's got great hands. Huge ups. She loves playing. We told her, 'You're not going to be an all-state goalkeeper (in one year). Just come out and keep us in games. She's extremely competitive. A true, true student-athlete."

In all, Walsh is pleased with the Bears, although, as he pointed out, the loss makes it tougher for them to win the division.

"We can play. We can play," Walsh said. "I'm very proud of this team. This is a happy year. We've got a great group. ... We'll be there. You'll be seeing us at the end. Stonington never goes away."

Waterford's only blemish so far in the Medium was a 0-0 tie against Montville.

"In that game we had five one-on-ones with the keeper and we didn't do a very good job finishing," Ghiglia said. "... The kids were disappointed to lose the division last year. Tonight, we were focused."

v.fulkerson@theday.com

Twitter: @vickieattheday