GARDINER — The Gardiner Area High School lacrosse team entered its Eastern B showdown Saturday with fellow unbeaten St. Dominic hoping for a signature victory.
The Tigers left looking to regroup.
Senior Troy Haefele scored five goals and added seven assists to lead the quick-moving Saints to a 17-7 win over the Tigers in a game between two of the top Eastern B teams at Hoch Field.
“It was a frustrating game,” said Gardiner senior Justin Lovely. “This was one of the games we had circled. They got us away from our game. They matched our intensity.”
Added Gardiner junior attacker Keegan Smith, who had a goal and two assists: “This was the one big challenge we had in the regular season. It’s pretty frustrating.”
Jeff McAuslin led Gardiner (8-1) with two goals. Tyler Jamison and Seth Wing each had a goal and an assist. Nick Clements and Lovely also scored.
“We struggled possessing the ball,” Gardiner coach KC Johnson said. “Our defense struggled.”
Anthony Fagone also scored five goals and Chris Finlay added three for the Saints (10-0), who scored three times in a two-minute span late in the first quarter to break open a 3-2 game. Nick Hatfield added two goals and an assist.
“It feels great,” said Haefele. “This gives us a lot of confidence. Coming in, we’d thought it’d be a big battle, and it was a battle. Hopefully, it sends out a statement that we are for real this year.”
The Saints were able to spread the Tigers out, particularly in the first half, to create gaping shooting lanes. While the Tigers tightened up in the second half, the damage was already done.
“I think in transition, we took advantage,” St. Dom’s coach Dave Haefele said. “We usually start slow, but we started out quite well.”
St. Dom’s led 3-2 with 7 minutes, 41 seconds left in the first quarter. However, the Saints outscored Gardiner 6-1 late in the first quarter and into the second that all but put the Tigers away. Most of the goals came after defensive breakdowns. The Saints scored two goals in 16 seconds early in the second quarter to go up 9-3. Haefele scored the first off a turnover and then assisted on the other.
The Tigers scored three goals in the final seven minutes of the second to pull within 11-6 at the half.
Haefele had a hand in all but one of his team’s goals in the half.
“We came out fired up and got a couple quick ones,” Lovely said, “but then they just came back.”
Added Johnson: “In the first half we got stretched out a little bit. Execution-wise, we just struggled. The sport is all about momentum.”
Will Desmarais and Grant Carrier also scored for the Saints, who’ve scored at least 10 goals in every game this spring.
“(Gardiner) is always a good test for us,” Troy Haefele said. “It was big to get up on them early. We played a great game.”
Cody Rodrigue stopped 11 shots to earn the victory. Cody Hickey had 16 saves for Gardiner.
Bill Stewart — 621-5640
bstewart@centralmaine.com
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.