After barely escaping with a 2-1 win over Scituate on Sunday, the Lady Dragon soccer team brought its A game to Chandler Field on Tuesday night and defeated reigning Division II state champs, Cardinal Spellman of Brockton, 4-1.

On a drizzly fall evening, the weather did little to hinder the Duxbury attack, as Coach Emerson Coleman’s team built a 4-1 halftime lead and was never in danger the rest of the way.

It took just 40 seconds to test Spellman goalkeeper Jennifer Scanlon, as Melissa Gavin took a pass from Emily Weimer and was topped at point blank range by the senior netminder, who would have a rough first half before being lifted to start the final 40 minutes.

Duxbury finally got on the board at the 29:45 mark, as Gavin beat two defenders to a loose ball and threaded a pass through the defense to Emily Gallagher, who beat Scanlon for a 1-0 lead.

Gavin would almost score a minute later when she pivoted in front of the net from 20 yards out and sent her shot over the crossbar. But she made up for the miss three minutes later when she crossed a pass through the box that eluded Scanlon and landed on the foot of senior forward Jenny Moore, who poked it home for a 2-0 Duxbury lead.

Spellman had no solution for containing Gavin, other than to knock her to the ground, earning her a penalty kick with 22:50 to go in the half. Unfortunately, her shot sailed over the crossbar and the lead remained at two goals.

Gavin continued to terrorize the visitors, as she deftly maneuvered her way out of the corner with 21:30 on the clock and fed Gallagher again, who fired another Duxbury shot off the crossbar.

While Duxbury dominated, it couldn’t keep Spellman off the board, as Sammi Zina broke the Spellman drought with 7:37 left in the half to close the gap to 2-1.

The Lady Dragons were determined to see that their hard work not go for naught. After a throw-in to Gavin on the left sideline, the senior forward stepped around a defender and blasted a shot from 20 yards out that went under Scanlon and into the far corner of the net for a 3-1 lead with 5:14 to go.

It took just two minutes for Duxbury to put the game away for good, as Gallagher collected a loose ball from 25 yards out and blasted a shot over Scanlon into the top right corner that sealed Spellman’s fate.

“That was the best 40 minutes we played all year,” said a happy Duxbury coach. “We just missed in the first 30 seconds, and you never know if that will come back to bite you when you are playing the defending state champs. I thought we had great opportunities and I just loved how we started the game. The first 40 minutes we were flying and I thought Devan Bahr did a great job of shutting down their offensive star. We got very athletic with them and I thought our team speed was the difference from the beginning of the game.”

Duxbury's next opponent in the South Sectional title game will be the winner of the Ashland/Dedham contest. The Lady Dragons' next game will be on Friday, Nov. 12, at Scituate High School at 5:30 p.m.