AUBURN — If there was any rust for the St. Dominic Academy girls soccer team heading into Tuesday’s Class D South girls soccer semifinal, the Saints knocked it off in no time, and knocked off upset-minded Old Orchard Beach in the process.
The Saints got on the board first and held strong for a 3-1 victory.
St. Dom’s (11-3-1), the region’s No. 1 seed, will face either second-seeded Richmond (8-5) or third-seeded Buckfield (9-5) in the D South final next week. The Bobcats and the Bucks play their semifinal Thursday.
St. Dom’s coach Jarrod Carnrick said he was concerned before Tuesday’s game about the amount of time since the Saints’ most recent games and the practice time they missed while Lewiston and Auburn were on lockdown during the manhunt following the shootings in Lewiston last week.
“Obviously, we’ve gone a long time without playing a game, it was like 19 days since we played last,” Carnrick said. “We were a little worried about how we were gonna start. They got a good warm-up in, started well and took the couple chances that went our way in the first half.”
St. Dom’s scored first when Rieslynn Bernier set up Avery Gravel to make it 1-0.
“It was definitely good to get on the board first, of course, and it was tough in the build-up not knowing when we were going to play, where we were going to play, but to score the first goal, it was a bit of a relief,” Carnrick said.
The Saints added to their lead when Gabby Allen beat Old Orchard Beach goalie Sarah Davis for a goal late in the first half.
“It was good for the team, and I think that pushed us on through the whole rest of the first half,” Carnrick said.
Allen scored another one-on-one goal in the second half to put St. Dom’s up 3-0.
“It definitely got a weight off my shoulders (to score), because our team definitely gets under pressure with the 2-1 lead and it’s really frustrating,” Allen said. “When I put that third one in, it was like, OK, we’re good.”
The Saints also scored three goals in their regular season meetings against Old Orchard Beach — a 3-0 home win on Sept. 14 and a 3-1 road victory on Sept. 27.
Old Orchard Beach coach Heath Floyd said the fifth-seeded Seagulls (6-10) played better in the second half Tuesday.
He also credited the Saints for the way they defended the Seagulls’ multiple corner kick scoring opportunities, until Old Orchard Beach scored on one in the second half. St. Dom’s goalie Anna Theriault tipped the ball and then it was headed into the goal by Tessa Ferguson to cut the deficit to 3-1.
“Tessa is our junior striker and she’s great. I think she’s had 14 or 15 goals this season and she’s definitely our weapon up front,” Floyd said. “Sometimes we have trouble getting her the ball in the right spots, but she’s fearless up front in corner kicks.”
The Seagulls had a few more scoring chances, but those were stopped by Theriault (six saves), including one on the final play of the game.
Sarah Davis played goal for Old Orchard Beach and finished with four saves, including a diving save in the second half. Davis started the season at defense but moved to goal for the last several games of the season.
“Sarah Davis is one of our star defenders, so she started around game eight having to move out of defense and into the goal, and she did great for us all season,” Floyd said. “Great hands, great hand-eye coordination, great punts, so she has been a game changer in goal.”
COMMUNITY TRIBUTE
The St. Dom’s players were wearing blue arm bands with “Lewiston” printed in white and blue ribbons with Lewiston’s zip code in white in support of the city as it recovers from last week’s shootings that left 18 dead.
“It was all of our ideas (to pay tribute) because (the shooting) was a big part of all our lives and it was really sad to see that happening,” Allen said. “I think just (the need to) represent them just stood out.”
MOVING ON
St. Dom’s defeated Buckfield twice and split its two meetings against Richmond this season.
Allen said the team needs to go into the game confident, on its A-game and listening on all sides of the field.
“We just need to polish a few things up, keep focused and get our discipline and organization back on the defensive end and just make sure we’re constantly staying focused during transitions,” Carnrick said. “Again, we haven’t been able to practice the last four or five days, which did show a little bit, but now we’ve got a solid week (to prepare).”
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