BRUNSWICK -- Brunswick High School junior Alison Walton lined up the corner and lofted the ball toward the back post of the Waterville goal.

"I saw the ball come toward me and I knew I had to get this one," Brunswick midfielder Hilary Champagne said. "I had to get it done. No one wanted to go to penalty kicks. We wanted to end it right there."

Champagne did just that, heading the ball past Waterville keeper Cara Rousseau with 3 minutes, 29 seconds left in double overtime to give Brunswick a thrilling 3-2 victory in the Eastern A championship game Wednesday afternoon before about 500 fans.

"It was just a perfectly placed corner kick," said Champagne, who scored all three Brunswick goals. "It was just perfect."

Waterville coach Ian Wilson said Champagne was tough to defend on the play.

"They had a big, tall girl on the back post and she headed it in," he said. "What can you do? It was just an excellent game."

The top-seeded Dragons (17-0-0) will play Thornton Academy in the Class A final Saturday. Waterville, the defending Class A state champs, finished 14-2-1.

"It's frustrating because we worked so hard to get to this point," said Waterville junior forward Jordan Pellerin. "To not get out of here with a win is surprising. I don't know what to say. We wanted this one badly. We wanted to show people what we were made of. We had a lot to prove."

Added Waterville sophomore forward Abbie Webster, who scored twice: "We were told it was impossible to beat them. We came here to do the impossible."

The Purple Panthers nearly did.

They were thoroughly dominated in the first half, which ended with Brunswick ahead 1-0 and Waterville still looking for its first shot on goal.

However, the Purple Panthers changed their formation to open the second half, going with five midfielders instead of four.

The strategy created some scoring opportunities, and 2:43 into the half Webster lofted a shot over Brunswick keeper Lydia Caputi to tie the game at 1-all.

Webster then gave Waterville the lead with 11:19 left in regulation off a corner kick by Laura Tozier.

"I was in the right place at the right time," she said. "Both goals were kind of lucky. On the second one, I got behind their goalie and tapped it in."

But the lead was short-lived as Champagne tied the game off another corner from Walton, who played a terrific game.

"We needed that goal," Champagne said. "That gave us some momentum heading into overtime."

Brunswick finished with 17 shots on goal, although nine came in the first half. Waterville, meanwhile, had 13.

Waterville, which received tremendous play from midfielders Taylor Frame, Olivia Thurston and Tozier, controlled the game for extended stretches in the second half.

"In the first half we were exceptional," Brunswick coach Martyn Davison said. "But in the first 20 minutes of the second half they were the better team. Offensively, we were superb. Defensively, we didn't expect to concede two goals."

Added Frame: "We had nothing to lose when we were down. We were down 1-0 on their field and we just played hard and came back. We just came up a bit short."

Bill Stewart -- 623-3811, ext. 515

bstewart@centralmaine.com