Aberdeen Central was feeling comfortable halfway through its home game against Watertown on Thursday afternoon, then the Golden Eagles found a sense of purpose.

Playing with more urgency in the second half, Central pulled away for a 4-2 Eastern South Dakota Conference girls’ soccer victory on senior day at Brownell Activities Complex.

“We talked about it at halftime. We were playing good soccer, but we were more so being a reactive team. We were just kind of playing comfortable,” said Central coach Kendra Hanley. “I said we’re in the place in this part of the season where we can’t play comfortable. We have to go and get that ball, and tonight it is for the seniors.”

The Golden Eagles took that message to heart and dominated play in the final 40 minutes to secure the win.

“We determined what our purpose was,” Hanley said, “and as soon as we found that sense of purpose, it became our why, and they did amazing.”

The Arrows scored in the first six minutes of the contest, but Central soon found some traction as Brianna Fischer tied the game and then played a key role in the team’s second goal late in the first half.

Fischer battled an opponent for a ball on the edge and drew a foul, giving the Golden Eagles a free kick.

Defender Megan Brakefield took the kick and it appeared that Fischer had booted the ball into the back of the net. However, it turned out that Fischer never touched the ball.

“I think what helped that go in was I was bringing the defender with me, so she wasn’t really paying attention to the ball, she was paying attention if I would kick it,” Fischer said. “But I didn’t. Everyone thought that too, and then I ran over and told Megan that she scored and she was so happy.”

Brakefield had no idea what had happened, she just knew that the ball ended up in the goal.

“I’m kind of on a high right now,” Brakefield said after her scoring her first career goal. “I didn’t think it was me. I thought our attacker Brianna tapped it in, but I guess it went off the goalie, and the goal goes to me, I guess.”

Brakefield didn’t realize she was one the who scored until she met with Fischer to celebrate the goal.

“I was going to congratulate Bri, but then she came up to me and said she didn’t touch it,” Brakefield said.

The Arrows tied the score on a goal with just four seconds remaining in the opening half. That set the stage for Hanley’s pep talk and Central’s performance in the final 40 minutes.

“Their sense of urgency in the second half really showed through,” Hanley said of her players. “We were definitely first to the ball and that was one of the talking points at halftime. They came out and showed and proved what they needed to do.”

The Golden Eagles broke the tie score as Fischer worked her way through three Watertown defenders for a goal, before Jaxi Lozenski added another goal as the hosts pulled away down the stretch.

As a result Central won its final regular-season home contest and continued to build momentum for next week’s playoffs.

“It’s very big,” Fischer said of the importance of Tuesday’s win. “We just keep taking practice by practice and working at it. We want to get as far as we can in the playoffs, so we want to keep working.”

The Golden Eagles will host a playoff game next Tuesday in the opening round.

Brakefield said the team just needs to play with intensity from the opening whistle.

“Our team tends to play to the level of other teams, so we’re trying to just keep up our intensity and play our game,” Brakefield said, “because we know we’re quick, we know we’re fast, we know how to move the ball good and make good runs.”

Central has one final regular-season game left at O’Gorman on Thursday before heading into the postseason. Brakefield said she doesn’t think there will be much difference between the end of the regular season and the playoffs.

“We’ve been doing intense practices and we’ve been trying to stay intense and focused, so I don’t think much will change,” Brakefield said. “We know what we’re going into. We all have a goal. We know we want to win. We know we’re a threat, so just stay intense.”

The Golden Eagles are currently 11-2 and have won four games in a row.

“It’s all about kind of peaking at the right point and making sure we’re doing all the little things and remembering all of those things going forward,” Hanley said. “I do like where we’re sitting. I think the girls like where we’re sitting, too.”

Watertown 2 0 – 2

Aberdeen Central 2 2 – 4

First Half: 1, W, Sophia Gallardo, 6th minute; 2, AC, Brianna Fischer (Megan Brakefield), 20th minute; 3, AC, Brakefield (direct free kick, 34th minute; 4, AC, W, Gallardo, 40th minute.

Second Half: 5, AC, Fischer; 6, AC, Jaxi Lozenski, 69th minute.

Shots: Watertown 8; Aberdeen Central 16.

Goalies: Watertown, Madison Enstad (3 saves); Aberdeen Central, Ava Beck (5 saves).