Romeo had a sour taste in their mouth after falling just short of winning the MAC Red Division championship this season and were anxious to make amends for that when they opened district action against visiting Utica on Wednesday night.

It took the Bulldogs over a half to feel good about themselves, but three second-half goals put a smile on Romeo’s faces as they defeated the Chieftains 3-0.

“I think they’re really trying to give me a heart attack in the first half on purpose,” Romeo coach Trevor Foster said. “There’s been so many games where we’ve had opportunities to score and can’t get the ball over the line. But, we are getting the opportunities.”

Romeo had six shots on goal in the opening half, but couldn’t get anything past Utica keeper Alyssa Alamat.

“The girls did a very good job in the first half,” Utica coach Dave Moran said. “Trevor made some adjustments and went more direct in the second half.”

The Bulldogs finally got on the board with 36:01 left when Lydia Hill took a long pass from Addison Speed and broke in alone and scored from 10-yards out.

“We’ve been telling our strikers to gamble all season,” Foster said. “Assume the ball is going to go over the head and keep running. Lydia has been doing that all season. She’s our top goal-scorer and she’s committed to playing at Ball State. She has a bright future ahead of her.”

Romeo extended its edge to 2-0 with 27:42 to play when McKenna Clouston blasted a shot from 25-yards out into the net off a short feed from teammate Clare Carmody, who earned the assist.

“McKenna has an absolute cannon of a shot,” Foster said.

Romeo added an insurance goal with 11:11 left when Julie Sandoval scored.

“Coming into the huddle at halftime I told the girls I didn’t have much for them because we had so many opportunities,” Foster said.

“Just get the ball over the line and keep doing what we were doing. We did make a few tweaks like angles of runs, and they responded.”

Moran said his team played well but just couldn’t win balls in the air.

“It’s the in-the-air game that troubles our girls,” Moran said. “That’s what got us in the second half. They just don’t like to head the ball. We’ve had a couple concussions during the season and girls might get a little more leery than boys would be.

“There were a lot of plays where we could break out offensively and we didn’t find our feet, but the other teams,” Moran added. “I think that’s the most critical part we have to work on. If we can’t scrap and get balls out of the air, then we have to play to our feet, work and get up the field together.”

Romeo goalkeeper Isabella Stojanovski made one save in the shutout. The win improved the Bulldogs’ record to 11-3-3 overall and moved them into next week’s district semifinal game at Rochester Adams against the winner of the match between Adams and Ford II. Utica was led by Alamat, who made 12 saves in the loss.