The Cornwall Dragons had been on a rough road.

After winning two straight non-league games to start the season, the Dragons stumbled when they entered Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association Division II play, losing their first three divisional games.

That changed on Thursday when they scored a late first-half goal and posted a 1-0 win over the Washingtonville Wizards at Kristi Babcock Memorial Park in New Windsor.

“It feels great (to get a win),” junior goalkeeper Rosemary Wiley said. “I knew some of the girls on their side and I knew they were going to play tough. I just held my confidence and kept the pressure up against them.”

That one score came with 4:26 left in the first half after a mistake by the Wizards gave the Dragons a direct kick from about 25 yards away from the goal.

Junior midfielder Emma Walsh served the ball into the six-yard box, where it was redirected into the goal by Madeline Larkin, giving the Dragons all the offense they would need.

“That made me feel more confident, myself, because you have a barrier in that one goal,” Wiley said. “If you make a mistake, things are fine, but keeping a clean sheet is always most important to me.”

It was her first shutout of the season and the first time they had allowed less than three goals in one game. They allowed three goals twice during the first two games of the season, 4-3 wins over the Newburgh Free Academy Goldbacks and Rhinebeck Hawks.

They gave up five goals in a 5-1 loss to Goshen and a 5-0 loss to the Valley Central Vikings on Sept. 11 and 13 respectively, and then were pounded on Sept. 17, 9-1, by the Warwick Wildcats to start last week’s play.

They haven’t scored more than one goal in a game since Sept. 9.

But that for at least one day, that was enough.

“The key to keeping them out was staying as far up as I could to not give them as many openings, and to just not give up, even though I thought there were times when I thought it was going to be rough,” Wiley said.

However, coming out almost came back to bite her twice, as the Wizards got around her twice. However, the defense bailed her out both times, and a defender kept finding their way to the goal line and cleared the ball out.

“I’m very proud of them because they’re just amazing,” Wiley said. “They’re always saving me when I make mistakes, and they’re always helping me keep my head up if I make mistakes. No matter what, they just never give up.”

The Dragons finished the week on Saturday with a 6-5 road loss to the Minisink Valley Warriors.