St. Dom’s Avery Lutrzykowski works against the defense of Lewiston’s Meghan Morris during Thursday’s game at Garcelon Field on the campus of Bates College. (Lee Horton/Sun Journal)
LEWISTON — Patience paid big dividends for the St. Dom’s girls’ lacrosse team in a 17-3 win over Lewiston on Thursday at Garcelon Field.
“We’ve really been working on being patient with our offense,” Saints senior Caroline Gastonguay said, “because in the past we’ve gotten really excited and want to get the first goal right off the bat. And we just wanted to slow it down and get the perfect shot.”
There was a sense of urgency to the Saints’ patience. The postseason starts next week, they have a crucial game against Freeport on Friday and they were coming off a 10-7 loss to Waynflete on Tuesday.
“I was really happy,” St. Dom’s coach Leslie Klenk said. “We came off a really disappointing loss on Tuesday, and it was really important for us today to use this game to bounce back and get into how we really, truly play all the time — should be playing all the time — and I think they did that today. They got back into running the offenses patiently. On Tuesday, we were not patient at all.”
While the Saints were patient and controlling, they didn’t waste much time taking over.
Gastonguay scored less than two minutes into the game, added another just past the five-minute mark, and a third 11 seconds later. With 19:40 left in the first half, St. Dom’s had seized a 3-0 advantage.
Freshman Charlotte Gastonguay made it 4-0 with a goal that was set up by Caroline Gastonguay with 13:46 left in the half.
Erin Lachance set up Katie Lemieux to put Lewiston on the scoreboard with 12:04 remaining before the break.
The Saints reeled off five more goals before halftime — two by Charlotte Gastonguay, two by Emma Theriault and one by Caroline Gastonguay — to lead 9-1 at the break.
Before the season, Lewiston coach Brant Remington talked about the Blue Devils’ difficult schedule. He included St. Dom’s in that assessment, despite the Saints being Class C and Lewiston being Class A.
So, he wasn’t surprised by St. Dom’s onslaught Thursday afternoon.
“I’d seen them play earlier (in the season),” Remington said. “They were definitely capable of doing that to us. If they catch us off a little bit, if we’re a couple steps behind … they’ve got some scoring power, I wasn’t surprised by that at all.”
Goals by Charlotte Gastonguay and Mia-Angelina Leslie pushed St. Dom’s lead to 11-1.
The Blue Devils held the Saints off the scoreboard for eight minutes, during which time they put in two goals of their own. Rachel Ouellette scored an unassisted goal, and Lachance set up Camree St. Hilaire to make it 11-3.
Caroline Gastonguay scored an unassisted goal and then assisted on a score by Charlotte Gastonguay to build the lead back up to 10 and re-activate the running clock that lasted the rest of the game.
Caroline (six goals, seven assists) and Charlotte Gastonguay (six goals, two assists) each tallied one more goal, and Avery Lutrzykowski and Madison Leslie also had goals to cap the scoring.
Putting the sisterly connection on display, Caroline Gastonguay assisted on four of Charlotte Gastonguay’s six goals.
“We practice all the time in the backyard, we got to Bates, my dad works here, so we shoot all the time,” Caroline Gastonguay said. “I think that we just know where we are on the field at all times. And I know she’s going to catch it, so if I thought it to her, even if it’s a little bit of a rocky pass, I know she’ll catch it.”
Thursday’s game was rare sports meeting between the Twin Cities schools. Many of the players grew up playing in the Lewiston Rec feeder system — and some Lewiston players had been coached by Klenk.
The game also was a chance for Caroline and Charlotte Gastonguay to play against neighbor Christine Chasse of Lewiston.
“We’ve been playing together for so long,” Caroline Gastonguay said. “It was a big game because we needed to get a good seed in playoffs, and it’s just fun playing with Christine.”
The Blue Devils finish the regular season 7-5. They face Messalonskee in the KVAC title game Saturday.
St. Dom’s (8-3) finishes the regular season against Freeport (8-3) on Friday. The Saints and Falcons are vying for the third and fourth seeds in Class C.
“That game is also crucial with our standing,” Caroline Castonguay said, “because we want to be in a good position, bracket-wise, for states.”
St. Dominic’s Madison Leslie carries the ball upfield against the defense of Lewiston’s Sydney Hill and Camree St. Hilaire during Thursday’s game at Bates College in Lewiston. (Lee Horton/Sun Journal)Lewiston’s Kelsie Lynch and St. Dom’s Charlotte Gastonguay vie for a loose ball during the girls’ lacrosse game at Garcelon Field in Lewiston on Thursday. (Lee Horton/Sun Journal)Lewiston’s Rachel Ouellette (4) and St. Dominic Academy’s Caroline Gastonguay chase down a loose ball at Garcelon Field in Lewiston on Thursday. (Lee Horton/Sun Journal)Lewiston’s Christine Chasse and St. Dom’s Caroline Gastonguay get ready for a faceoff during Thursday’s game at Garcelon Field in Lewiston. Gastonguay and Chasse are neighbors. (Lee Horton/Sun Journal)St. Dom’s Mia-Angelina Leslie defends Lewiston’s Erin Lachance during the Saints’ 17-3 win at Garcelone Field in Lewiston on Thursday. (Lee Horton/Sun Journal)St. Dominic Academy’s Caroline Gastonguay carries the ball upfield against Lewiston at Garcelon Field on Thursday. (Lee Horton/Sun Journal)St. Dominic Academy’s Caroline Gastonguay carries the ball upfield against Lewiston at Garcelon Field on Thursday. (Lee Horton/Sun Journal)Lewiston goalie Cece Racine keeps her eyes on the ball as St. Dom’s Caroline Gastonguay gets knocked down trying to split the defense of Lewiston’s Rachel Ouellette and Kelsie Lynch at Garcelon Field on Thursday. (Lee Horton/Sun Journal)
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