AUBURN — Fog and cold rain made playing conditions challenging for both teams, but that didn’t stop eighth-ranked St. Dom’s from prevailing in foul weather at Central Maine Community College.
Natalie Brocke reeled off three goals in row as the Saints sailed to a 5-0 victory over ninth-seeded Pine Tree Academy (7-5) in an opening-round Class D South girls soccer playoff game under the lights on Monday night.
St. Dom’s (5-10) moves on to the quarterfinals where it will face top-ranked North Yarmouth Academy (13-0-1) at 3:45 p.m. on Wednesday.
The Saints dominated the game from the outset and scored four goals in the first half.
“The last couple of games we’ve been improving on our possession and settling things down,” St. Dom’s coach Tyler Shennett said. “I think tonight really showed that. We have the ability to be a dominant team.
“We’ve had some bad games, but at the end of the day, we know how to move the ball around the pitch, and we did a really good job of that today. Defensively, we calmed things down. We were able to distribute the ball to our forwards, and the forwards put on a fantastic display today.”
Sophomore Avery Gravel scored St. Dom’s first goal on an Anna Geyer Shaheen assist 8:51 into the first half.
Brocke followed with the next three goals to give the Saints a healthy 4-0 lead heading into the second half. Senior midfielder Emma Roy assisted on Brocke’s first goal and sophomore midfielder Natalia Russell earned the assist on Brocke’s third goal.
“We directed play. It was all my team, from defense to the strikers,” Brocke said. “We all came together and possessed the ball. I am pretty excited about it and we are going into NYA strong.”
“She is our top scorer this season,” Shennett said of Brocke. “She is definitely a threat, whether it is coming through the middle or out wide. She has been a key to our offense this year, and it was nice to see her cap off a good team display with three goals.”
The Saints were also in full control in the second half, during which they produced one goal. Senior Jessica Zimmerman fired off a long direct kick into the net for a goal that provided St. Dom’s with a 5-0 lead.
The Breakers didn’t get a shot on net, so St. Dom’s goalies Charli Apodaca and Anna Theriault didn’t need to make any saves.
“Our girls played really hard,” Pine Tree coach Dean Waterman said. “Tough conditions — cold, rainy. (I want) to congratulate my seniors. They played with me for four years and I am going to really miss them next year.”
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