They stunned the soccer crowd earlier in the season when they knocked off Whitman-Hanson, 4-1, with senior captain Caitlin Burke notching all four goals. On Sunday night in Whitman they looked like they might be on their way to doing it again when Burke opened the scoring just over three minutes into the game for a 1-0 Duxbury lead.

Whether they thought it would be just as easy this time, or the goal lit a fire under the Panthers, is open to debate. Nonetheless, the goal swung momentum totally in the Panthers favor, as they crushed the Lady Dragons, 5-1, dominating play and showing why forward Samantha Mewis is one of the best players in the country.

Duplicating Burke’s effort in the first game, Mewis lit up the Duxbury goal with four tallies of her own, beating goalie Emily Brook with some shots that David Beckham would be proud of.

“She is a super player,” said Duxbury Coach Emerson Coleman. “Now you can see why she is a member of the national team.”

It took the talented forward just 37 seconds to blast away at the Duxbury net, and fortunately for the Lady Dragons it was wide. But she didn’t miss just minutes after Burke’s goal, setting up in front and heading a line drive off a corner kick to tie the game at 1-1.

The chances began to mount for the Panthers, as Mewis unloaded a pair of direct kicks that barely missed, just before her blast from along the end line bounced off Brook and found its way just inside the post for a 2-1 lead.

A Duxbury direct kick from 20 yards out sailed over the head of Whitman-Hanson keeper Kerry Condon with eight minutes left in the half: one of just five Duxbury shots in the first half as compared to the Panthers’ 14.

“Good teams make their own breaks and tonight we just weren’t doing that,” admitted Coleman.

It was all W-H in the second half, as Brook was tested early and often with Mewis hitting the crossbar and her rebound being sent over it at the 36:20 mark.

Four minutes later Mewis was torturing the Lady Dragons again, as she flew down the left side, turned the defense, and blasted a shot past Brook for a 3-1 lead.

The Panther attack didn’t let up, as they beat Duxbury to most of the 50/50 balls. With 17:10 to go Julie Monroe took a direct kick to Brook’s left and bent her shot just inside the far post for an insurmountable 4-1 lead.

Nothing of any consequence was working in the Duxbury offense, as the Panthers continued to have their way offensively, building their lead to 5-1 less than two minutes later when Mewis came barreling down the left side once again and picked the far right corner for her fourth goal of the evening.

“When we are up against someone like Mewis we need to respond. We just didn’t do it,” said Coleman. “I’m sure they didn’t like the score the last time we played them, so they were determined to win all the battles and they did.”

Tomorrow afternoon the Lady Dragons will host Hingham at 4 p.m., followed by their final Patriot League game with Pembroke on Saturday and a Tuesday finale with Cohasset.