Gastonguay scored 35 seconds into the game, but nothing else came easy for her or the rest of the offense in the first half. The Saints (4-0) held an advantage in possession, but negated that with unforced turnovers. Gastonguay missed three free-position shots in the first half as well.
“I wasn’t following through, I was following through higher, so I had to aim two feet lower than I wanted to shoot in order to hit the spot I wanted to,” Gastonguay said. “It was frustrating, but I had to keep my head up.”
Avery Lutrzykowski also scored for the Saints before halftime, but the Tigers (1-2) got goals from Abigail Engle, Madison Beaulieu and Hailee Lovely, and goalie Kaylin Mansir stopped 5 of 7 shots.
The 3-2 halftime deficit wasn’t for a lack of trying on the Saints’ part.
“The first half we were a little jittery. We lost big time to this team last year, so it was really important for us to come out and win this one,” St. Dom’s coach Leslie Klenk said. “We wanted it I think a little bit too much in the first half, made some mistakes that we shouldn’t have done.
“When we got together in the halftime, we said we really need to slow it down and play our game, which is control.”
The turnovers decreased for the Saints in the second half, and in turn so did the effective offense. Emma Theriault found Kristina Cornelio from behind the net to in front to tie the game less than three minutes in.
The St. Dom’s defense received some good luck twice in 15 seconds a minute later. Claire Crocker hit the left post for Gardiner, then another Tigers shot hit the right post moments later. The third time was the charm, however, with Lovely beating Saints goalie Abby Slonina to give Gardiner the lead back.
Gastonguay found an alternative to taking long shots and missing. Instead, she brought the ball from behind the net and wrapped around the left post before firing past Mansir point-blank nine minutes in.
The St. Dom’s sophomore said that goal got her going. It also got the whole offense going.
Lutrzykowski scored 30 seconds later, then Gastonguay scored again on the man-up before the 10th minute of the second half was completed to make it 6-4 St. Dom’s.
“I really think that we tried to impress on them that we had to control the ball in order to win this game. And that meant good passes, good shots and patience,” Klenk said. “And I think that’s what we did in the second half.”
Gastonguay scored her fourth goal of the game just over three minutes later, and soon after the Tigers received their fourth yellow card of the game, forcing them to play a man down for the remainder of the game.
The Saints took advantage of the man-up, and them some. Gastonguay fed Lutrzykowski for her hat-trick goal 30 seconds into the man-up, then Lutrzykowski scored her fourth goal on her own a minute later. Izzy Frenette, Theriault and Rileigh Stebbins added goals of their own for the Saints, who put last year’s embarrassing loss to Gardiner behind them.
That was one of just two losses for St. Dom’s, which played a JV schedule. Now playing against a slate of varsity opponents the Saints are undefeated four games in.
“We didn’t know what to expect. We’re new to the varsity circuit this year,” Klenk said. “So each time we are able to win we get more and more confidence.”
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
Send questions/comments to the editors.
