Middletown — The first few times Mya Johnson got the ball Monday night, she admits she was nervous.

“Being a freshman and playing older people was a little bit nerve-wracking,” Johnson said, looking around the stadium at Middletown High School. “Under the lights. I would get the ball and go, 'Oh, God.' What do you do?”

It turns out that Johnson, Old Lyme's high-octane forward, knew what to do all along.

After a scoreless first half and some thrilling goalkeeping by senior Tori Sims to start the second, the third-seeded Old Lyme High School girls' soccer team scored four times in a seven-minute span to beat No. 8 Holy Cross 4-0 in the Class S state tournament semifinals.

Three of the goals went to Johnson, the second sending coach Paul Gleason skipping down the Old Lyme sideline, his trademark fishing hat in hand.

The Shoreline Conference champion Wildcats (17-2-2) will play No. 18 Notre Dame of Fairfield in the championship game Saturday at a site and time to be determined. Notre Dame topped No. 11 Bolton 2-0 in the other semifinal Monday.

Old Lyme will be trying to win the program's first outright state championship. The Wildcats tied Immaculate for the title in 2009 under longtime coach Don Desautels. The Old Lyme boys play Tuesday night in the Class S semifinals, bidding to join their counterparts in the championship game.

Gleason sobbed in the arms of his assistant coaches following the game.

“I can't tell you. It's such a thrill,” Gleason said. “They're just the nicest kids, man, even the kids that don't get a chance to play.”

Johnson scored the game's first goal with 14 minutes, 38 seconds to play off a free kick from Caleigh O'Neil, placing the ball in the right-hand corner of the net. The second one came just a few minutes later at the 11:05 mark, with Johnson artfully dribbling her way through two defenders, showing why Gleason had been urging her to dribble more, pass less all evening long.

Maddie Ouellette cleaned up a rebound after a free kick from Kyra Teixeira bounced free from the Holy Cross goalie, making it 3-0 with 8:51 left, and Johnson scored again on a 25-yard blast for the final margin.

“Then came Mya,” Gleason said. “She can skin people. The first half, she let them take her whole game away from her. I kept telling her, 'You've got to dribble your ball.' She's pretty special. She's pretty special.”

Johnson credited Sims, who made several point-blank saves to start the second half, with snapping the Wildcats back to reality.

“That motivated us,” Johnson said. “That knocked us back into our game.”

“A girl took a shot one time for Holy Cross and I said, 'Oh (crap),' and turned around,” Gleason said. “Then the girls started cheering. I turned around and Tori was holding the ball. Like, 'Dang. She caught it.'”

Old Lyme outshot Holy Cross 12-1 in the first half. The Crusaders, however, who upset top-seeded Housatonic Regional in the quarterfinals, weren't through. They had the better of the scoring chances to start the second half, forcing Sims to make six of her seven saves.

With 21:34 to play, Sims chased a ball just past the left side of the goal and two minutes later she got in front of a rocket by Kiley Harnish, preserving the 0-0 tie.

“It's more of a reaction,” said Sims, one of four seniors on the team, who credited defenders O'Neil, Sam Lee, Teixeira and Jenna Peduzzi for a few defensive stops that kept her from having to make even more saves during the Crusaders' flurry of shots. “I try to be ready, even when I'm not getting action.

“I think it's amazing,” Sims said of reaching the final for the first time in her career. “We work hard so hard. We deserve it.”

v.fulkerson@theday.com

Twitter: @vickieattheday