BRUNSWICK – Dakota Foster converted a penalty kick with 18:26 left to give Brunswick a 1-0 victory over Oxford Hills in a season-opening Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference girls’ soccer game Saturday.

The Dragons dominated from the outset, finishing with a 13-0 shots advantage and a 7-0 edge in corner kicks, but it was still a scoreless game when a Vikings defender was called for a hand ball in the box.

Foster admitted feeling pressure before the kick.

“I had missed a penalty kick in a preseason game and I was reliving that,” she said.

But she knew she had to put the thought out of her mind, and she knew all along where she was going with this shot — into the lower-right corner of the goal.

“We were definitely frustrated at times,” Foster said of her team’s inability to capitalize on their chances. “It took a little while for us to get in a rhythm.”

The Dragons had an excellent opportunity midway through the first half after Vikings goalie Breanna Martin came out to stop Foster’s bid from the right.

The ball went to Cassandra Murano in front of the crease in the ensuing scramble. She initially had plenty of open net, but a defender recovered to block her shot and keep it scoreless.

“We moved (Murano) to striker (in the second half) and that helped,” Foster said. “She’s a dynamic player and we started passing the ball better.”

Martin grabbed Foster’s header after Katherine Chipman’s free kick one minute into the second half, and a give-and-go from Murano and Paige Tetu set up another shot by Foster that went high five minutes later.

After Tetu sent a crossing pass from Foster over the net, Brunswick Coach Martyn Davison advised his players to “keep it low. We’re wasting too many chances.”

Following Foster’s penalty kick, Martin kept it a one-goal game by stopping a threat by Tetu and then punching out Tetu’s dangerous corner kick.

“I thought we passed the ball very well,” said Davison, “but we couldn’t finish. It’s important to get that first goal, and then things can get more comfortable.

“But they defended deep and it was a hot day, and the first game is always tough. But we had some nice one-touches and two-touches in the midfield; we just didn’t work it into the box enough.”

“I’m very happy with the way the girls played,” said Oxford Hills Coach Cortney Sirois. “They’re always a strong team, and we stayed with them, and that’s a confidence booster for us.

“We defended very well; now we have to work on getting our offense going to match it.”