Monmouth discovered that the hard way Wednesday afternoon in the Class C South girls’ championship at Chick Field. Ava Farrar’s service from the corner had a tricky trajectory and slipped through goalkeeper Mikayla Cameron’s fingers.

Cameron dove valiantly after the ball. Players from both sides flailed at it. But it was Flyers’ senior co-captain Arianna Giguere who pounced, punched the rebound about a foot beneath the crossbar and sent No. 6 Waynflete back to the state final with a 3-2 triumph over No. 4 Monmouth.

“My idea on that was just to pressure the keeper no matter what. When the ball popped out of her hands, I couldn’t believe it, but I was right there to put in in and that was that,” Giguere said. “We never gave up throughout the entire game. We took it upon ourselves to really focus on what our goal was, and we weren’t going to stop at anything until we got there.”

Waynflete (14-4) won its fourth consecutive playoff game to collect its fourth Class C South championship, its third in four years and its 10th regional title overall. The Flyers will face Orono on Saturday at Presque Isle Middle School.

Giguere’s game-winner came 4:29 into the first of what could have been two 15-minute extra periods. Her younger sister, Lydia, and Farrar, both sophomores, also scored for the Flyers.

Emily Grandahl and Haley Fletcher answered for Monmouth (12-3-2), rallying the Mustangs from a 2-0 deficit. Monmouth was appearing in its first ever Class C regional final and its first title game of any kind since winning the 2000 Class D crown.

“The kids played really well. Can’t ask for any more. They gave everything they had,” Monmouth coach Gary Trafton said. “When it was 2-0, they could have just blew the gates open and we could have folded and said that was it. They didn’t. They hung in there and battled back.”

Waynflete’s only blemishes during the season were two shutout losses to Sacopee Valley, the No. 1 seed in Class C South, and defeats against Class A Falmouth and Kennebunk. Monmouth knocked off Sacopee in the semifinals.

“We had a feeling we were a good team,” Waynflete coach Todd Dominski said. “We had a really bad game in the regular season (a 7-0 loss at Sacopee on Oct. 6). After that game we got our feet under us, and in the playoffs our confidence kept growing and growing and growing. They realized that as a team they were so much stronger than as individual players.”

Teams from the Western Maine Conference have won 16 of the past 18 Class C South championships, and the Flyers threatened to continue that trend with ease out of the gates.

Arianna Giguere’s throw-in found Farrar’s feet for a goal at the 15-minute mark of the first half. The Flyers added another goal three minutes later when Lydia Giguere intercepted Grandahl’s attempt to clear the scoring box and found a seam.

Monmouth gained life with 6:53 to go in the half. Isabel Canning’s attempt to contest Maddie Bumann from 15 yards away was ruled a takedown, leading to a successful penalty kick from Grandahl.

“Everybody gets an opportunity,” Trafton said. “All the goals today, four of them were done on set pieces. Corner kicks, throw-in, penalty kick, and then the last one just squirted through.”

Fletcher redirected Sammy Grandahl’s corner kick for the equalizer with 31 minutes left in regulation.

Each team had quality chances down the stretch, especially the Flyers. Farrar clanged the crossbar with one bid. Cameron made multiple sliding stops among her six saves in the half.

Waynflete keeper Ali Pope turned in a leaping grab off the foot of Sidney Wilson to stymie Monmouth’s best opportunity.

“They’re a good team, so definitely credit to them for coming back, but it didn’t stop us from doing what we wanted to do,” Arianna Giguere said. “There’s always going to be close calls in games like these, but no matter what we had to keep going.”

Cameron made nine saves for Monmouth, which had six seniors — Cameron, Bumann, Wilson, Sammy Grandahl, Cheyenne Gray and Taylor Spadafora — in the starting lineup.

“I thought we had it cleared out, but that girl (Giguere) is a heck of a player. We had two girls on her most of the game, because I knew she was that good,” Trafton said. “They’re a very skilled team, a very good team. We gave them everything we had. It wasn’t a piece of cake for them. They didn’t walk through us.”

koakes@sunjournal.com