AUBURN — St. Dom’s and Waynflete wrote another chapter in their girls’ soccer playoff rivalry Tuesday, and as the story has gone in recent years the Flyers continued their winning ways. No. 6 Waynflete outlasted the third-seeded Saints in a 5-0 victory in a Class C South quarterfinal.
The perennial playoff matchup between schools in different conferences took a year off last year, but Waynflete (12-4) returned to its winning ways, taking the game for the third straight time — with all three coming on the road. The two previous times, the Flyers won the state title.
Waynflete not only brought the experience of beating St. Dom’s (11-3-1) in the playoffs into the game, but experience as a whole was in favor of the Flyers. The Saints feature just two seniors and four upperclassmen.
That didn’t seem to mean much early in the game, however, save for a Waynflete corner kick 30 seconds into the contest. St. Dom’s soon began counterattacking, then started to keep possession in the Waynflete end.
The young Saints had three dangerous chances in the first 20 minutes, with all three coming in a five-minute span. Freshmen Avery Lutrzykowski and Abbie Zanoni both missed high on shots in the box on the first two shots.
“That’s the age thing,” St. Dom’s head coach Alicia Pelletier said. “I know both of them would want to call that back. We had talked about what we needed to do, and that was go low. Immediately after shooting they both knew it. Age plays a factor in that, they just get excited and hyper, and unfortunately going up and over because they overpower it as opposed to a little bit more finesse.”
The third missed chance was an even bigger one for St. Dom’s. Lutrzykowski’s 40-yard free kick wasn’t corralled by Waynflete goalie Ali Pope, so Saints freshman Bugsy Hammerton pounced on the loose ball but was met leg-for-leg by Pope, who made the save. Hammerton stayed down on the ground before being helped off the field, where she stayed for the final 21 minutes of the half.
“She’s got so much pep and enthusiasm. She just has spirit,” Pelletier said of Hammerton. “I think losing her didn’t hurt, in terms of we have very skilled players, but she brings an energy to those around her. They were all worried for her, and so their thoughts might not have been on the game.”
The flow of the game began to shift after that, then even more so five minutes later when Waynflete’s Lydia Giguere intercepted a St. Dom’s clear attempt and looped a 30-yard shot over the head of Saints freshman goalie Victoria Sasse and into the goal.
“It was huge for Lydia to get the ball at her feet and get in on net and get it in,” Waynflete head coach Todd Dominski said.
“She hasn’t had many this year, but when she put that in, the rest of us were so excited,” Waynflete senior captain Arianna Giguere — Lydia’s sister — said of the goal. “It definitely changed the momentum for us, and that was really what got us going.”
Pelletier called it a freshman mistake, but said Sasse had “a brilliant game at times.”
The Flyers dominated the rest of the half, but the score still stood at 1-0 at the break. It didn’t stay that way long.
Lydia Giguere scored another goal less than seven minutes into the second half, curveballing a ground shot past Sasse. Ava Farrar then finished the scoring with a hat trick, starting with Waynflete’s third goal nine minutes into the second half.
“Ava is an amazing player. I knew that when I turned the corner she was going to be right there, and so I laid it back to her and she put it in just like she can,” Giguere, who assisted on Farrar’s first goal, said. “She’s been huge for us this year. Big finisher.”
St. Dom’s was held without a shot in the second half, and had just one scoring opportunity — a pass from Lutrzykowski intended for a cutting Hammerton that was scooped up by Pope.
Despite the loss, Pelletier said Tuesday’s game was “a huge building block for a young team.”
Dominski, whose team advances to play No. 2 Madison in the semifinals, agrees on the future of the Saints.
“For what they have, for a young team, they’re a very talented team,” Dominski said. “We’ll see them again, for sure, in the playoffs for years to come.”
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
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