RALEIGH — In the opening moments of the second half, Middle Creek coach Eddie Wasdell told forward Heather Carew to be aggressive in pursuit of the ball and willing to take a chance when it was at her feet.

“She took a chance, and it turned out well for us,” Wasdell said.

Carew’s 47th-minute goal, a seemingly harmless strike from 20 yards out that snuck in at the near post, proved to be the contest’s only breakthrough and Middle Creek earned a 1-0 win over Athens Drive on March 26.

“It’s fantastic; amazing,” said Middle Creek goalkeeper Katie Broadwell, who had six saves to post the shutout. “It’s the first win we’ve had — like big win we’ve had — in a long time.”

And it allowed the Mustangs to enter their 12-day spring break layoff on a high note. Just short of the season’s midway point Middle Creek is 5-7 overall, 3-3 in the Tri-Eight. If the playoffs were to start today, they’d have the league’s fifth and final playoff berth.

Considering the Mustangs were 1-14-2 and scored just 11 goals last year, they have every reason to like where they are sitting in the conference table right now. Part of the turnaround, Wasdell said, was a switch in formation.

The Mustangs went from a 3-4-3 to a 4-4-2. With an extra defender on the backline, their goals-allowed-per-game average has dropped from 2.8 to 1.5. They have also surpassed last season’s goals scored total, with 17 through 12 games.

“The girls responded very well to that,” Wasdell said of the formation change. “We’re defending well as a unit, and we’re starting to attack as a unit.”

The loss to Middle Creek dropped Athens (5-5, 2-4) to sixth in the league. Since starting the season 4-0 and outscoring those four opponents 17-3, the Jaguars have found wins and goals tough to come by. The Jaguars have since lost five of six and haven’t scored more than one goal in any of those six games.

But if the game against Middle Creek is any indication, their lack of scoring is not for a lack of trying.

Athens controlled possession for nearly 75 percent of the game and outshot the Mustangs 11-6. But the combination of Middle Creek’s defense, Broadwell in goal and a little bad luck denied the Jaguars at every turn.

“It seems like we won possession, we won the 50-50 ball, we just couldn’t finish anything off tonight,” said Athens coach Travis Seese. “We were a few inches off every single time. They have a great player back there with [defender Hope] Hanson [and] their keeper had an outstanding game tonight.”

Middle Creek’s defense — wing backs Paige Price and Arika Greer and Hanson and Jenny McCallum in the middle — were well organized. Though Athens had a handful of chances, the Mustangs were successful largely because they kept Athens from getting decent looks from close range.

In the 11th minute, Broadwell tipped a Sarah Sims shot from 18 yards out off the crossbar and back into her hands to keep the match scoreless.

In the 20th minute, there was a flurry in front of the Middle Creek goal, with three Athens players taking a stab at the ball, but no one was able to punch it in the goal.

In the 37th minute, Sims was taken down in front of the Middle Creek goal, but no call was made.

In the 53rd minute, Lauren Kijewski hit the crossbar and Hannah Eshraghi’s follow-up was saved.

In the 72nd and 73rd minutes, Kijewski and Katie Durst both took shots from outside the penalty area that went just wide.

“We just couldn’t put anything in the back of the net,” Seese said.

When Middle Creek got its best chance to do the same, it capitalized.

In the 47th minute, Emily Henderson stole a misplayed ball deep in Athens territory and played it to Carew, who took a few dribbles and flung a shot in at the near post.

“I didn’t think it was going in,” Carew said. “I couldn’t believe it went in. I thought it was going to hit the post or the goalie was going to get it.”

The Mustangs entered their nearly two-week layoff on a high note. But they face a brutal three-game stretch when they return with games against Panther Creek, Green Hope and Apex, the Tri-Eight’s top three teams, when they get back.

But that was of no concern after the win over Athens. Because of that result, said Wasdell, “we’re all going to have a better spring break.”