BIDDEFORD — With her team mired in one of the program’s worst seasons and in danger of missing the Class A South girls’ lacrosse playoffs, Scarborough Coach Stephanie Belanger decided to make some changes.

One of the new looks from the start of the season was switching senior Hannah St. Germain from defense to offense.

Thanks in part to that move, Scarborough’s season isn’t over.

In a tight contest against a Biddeford team that had lost only twice this spring, St. Germain scored her fourth goal of the game with 13 seconds left to give Scarborough a 14-13 win in a regular-season finale.

The victory pushed the Red Storm (3-9) into seventh place in the Heal point standings after they started the day in ninth, one spot out of the playoffs.

Biddeford finished its best regular season at 9-3 and will host a regional quarterfinal next week for the first time.

St. Germain collected a pass from Ellie Smith (three goals, one assist), who was behind the net, and converted from in close for the winner. Scarborough got into the offensive zone 20 seconds earlier when Smith broke up a play near midfield.

“That was just insane. I’ve been playing since first grade, so this was one of those things you dream of,” said St. Germain, who had three goals in the second half. “I’m so happy that the team worked together and I ended up getting the finish.”

St. Germain explained that she and her teammates were aware it was a do-or-die game. And they knew they had to be the harder-working team on the blue turf at the University of New England.

“We talked at halftime; we have to be the team who wants it more,” she said. “We came out in the second half and we accomplished that.

“I took it very much to heart and (decided) to leave everything on field, because this could have been our last game. And there was no way I was going to let this be our last game.”

Biddeford led for most of the first half and the early part of the second half, but the Red Storm tied the game at 10 with 15:31 left. From there, the teams traded goals until Scarborough took a 13-12 lead with 1:53 remaining. On a three-on-two transition break, Sydney Rusak (three goals, two assists) was positioned on the right side of the goal and converted a pass from Smith.

The Tigers answered with 51 seconds left when Serena Speight (one goals, three assists) ran about 20 feet off a restart from midfield and found Hailey Allen (three goals, one assist) in front of the net with a long pass.

“I think the girls finally realized our season could have been over today,” said Belanger. “They wanted this. They wanted to keep playing, they didn’t want the season to end. And they gave it everything they had.”

The Tigers played the final 22:16 without top scorer Paige Laverriere, who had three goals and three assists in the first half, after she picked up her second yellow card. But Biddeford Coach Caitlin Albert said Scarborough’s sense of desperation was the difference.

“We knew they needed a win to make the playoffs … trying to match Scarborough’s intensity, it was pretty difficult,” Albert said.

Bethany Smel made 10 saves for Scarborough, with a handful of big stops, including two in a row from in close with the game tied 10-10.

“Any save (in a close game) is a key save,” Belanger said. “She made key saves when we needed it and kept the momentum for us.”

Peyton McKeown added three goals and two assists for Biddeford.

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