Sunapee — Michael Mullen feels like a whole new player, the sort of scoring forward he expected himself to be a year ago. His Sunapee High boys soccer team is reaping the rewards.

The Lakers dominated on a cold and rainy afternoon against Moultonborough, scoring three goals in the second half for a 5-1 victory on Wednesday.

Sunapee (12-3) has won seven of its last eight games heading into its regular season finale on Friday. After falling in the NHIAA Division IV quarterfinals the last two seasons, Sunapee is hungry for lengthy tournament run.

Mullen’s offensive resurgence has put the Lakers in prime position to do just that.

He had a self-described off year last fall — managing only seven goals and four assists as the No. 2 scoring option behind playmaking senior Carson Garland, who finished his season with a team high 20 goals and 10 assists.

Sunapee fell on a late goal to Littleton, 1-0, in the state quarters last season, ending the year with a 13-5 record and having outscored opponents 53-26.

“He had a case of the yips,” Sunapee senior forward and team captain Lane Smith said. “I knew at some point he’d break out. He’s too talented not to. He stepped up huge, we lost four starters last year. I’d say a lot of kids have stepped up huge this year, but Mike especially.”

Added Mullen: “At first, I didn’t think I was going to do very well because last year I did really bad. As the season went on, it got a lot better. … In the preseason, I wasn’t doing very well. But I scored four goals in the opener, and I said: ‘Maybe I can keep this up.’ I started scoring a lot more. It kind of worked out.”

Garland graduated in the offseason, while Mullen switched club soccer teams to try to prepare for the fall.

Whatever he did differently, it seemed to work.

Mullen has scored 29 goals with three assists, including a goal and an assist on Wednesday against the Panthers. His goal total is a single-season record for the program, and he broke the 25-goal margin last week in a three-goal effort against Hinsdale.

Sunapee has outscored its foes, 67-16, in 15 games this fall, with Mullen accounting for a little less than half of their goals.

“Michael was weird,” Sunapee head coach Jack Iacopino said. “Last year, he would get to the goal and then just kick it over, kick it wide or kick it right to the goalie. This year, he’s done a lot better getting to the net. He’s always had the talent to get it there. I always thought it was a mental thing, a break-the-ice kind of thing.

“He still misses once in a while, like everyone does.”

Smith and Jackson Cooney put the Lakers up, 2-0, in the first half. Smith redirected a sharp angle shot off a Moultonborough defender in, and Cooney took a cross from Mullen and finished for his fourth goal of the year.

But the Panthers answered just before halftime. Sunapee goalkeeper Sean Moynihan vacated the goal after he slipped on wet grass on a punt. Ryan Mason settled under the ball and shot over everyone’s head from midfield. It was all the offense Moultonborough could muster.

Mullen, Cooney and Jake Austin found the back of the net in the second half, extending Sunapee’s lead on nine shots and three corner kicks. The Lakers finished the game with 15 shots on goal.

Sunapee has five seniors on this year’s squad, including Smith, defenders Matt Nangeroni, Gabe Hastings, Brendan Kelleher, Jake Austin and Liam Gurney and goaltender Justin Claus.

Newmarket and Littleton are hurdles that have yet to be cleared — Sunapee lost twice to Newmarket and once to Littleton for its three losses this season. Smith said he’s been impressed with his teams progress. He hopes those improvements are enough to drive Sunapee to its first D-IV championship appearance since 2013.

“We’ve just got to work as hard as we can, practice harder than we have all season,” Smith said. “I just want everyone to invest in it 100 percent. I think last year, we were a little bit distracted. We weren’t 100 percent. I think this year, everyone seems focused on the goal.”

Iacopino said he’s sensed some urgency from his group with the postseason looming, trying to prove something after several early tournament exits the last few seasons.

“I think the team has approached it differently because they know where they got and how they got beat,” Iacopino said. “I think they don’t want it to happen again. So I think they’ve approached it different, especially the seniors. … They don’t want to be a quarterfinal team.”

Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.