LEWISTON — The Saints’ defense came to play. St. Dom’s back line held their ground for most of regulation.

They did their job for 60 minutes, then the offense took over in the overtime session. Charlotte Gastonguay’s goal with 5:11 remaining in the first overtime gave St. Dom’s a 2-1 victory over Oak Hill in a Class C South quarterfinal at Lewiston High School. It was her second goal of the contest.

Sun Journal photo by Russ Dillingham Oak Hill's Kaylei Robichaud, center, looks to get a rebound off St. Dominic goalie Simone Long on Wednesday in Lewiston.

The Saints had to defend 19 penalty corners in the game.

“Coming in this game we didn’t expect it to be easy,” Saints defender Avery Greco said. “We definitely wanted to play our hardest and I feel that’s what we did. We all pushed ourselves and we played as hard as we could.”

Oak Hill coach Betsy Gilbert knew her team missed some quality chances from the penalty corner position throughout the night. They were only able to put eight shots on goal and only half of them were on goal.

“There were quite a few of them I would like to have back,” Gilbert said. “We are battling injuries and we had key players out. We were hoping to get another week to play, but it wasn’t our luck tonight.”

Once the overtime session began, with the teams playing seven on seven, the Saints offense was able to find holes in the field for long passes and more room to run. Gastonguay challenged Oak Hill goalie Mackenzie Thibeault deep in the 25-yard circle. Gastonguay let Thibeault make the first move and had an open net to target. The assist went to Caroline Johnson.

“I think our team does well with the 7-on-7,” St. Dom’s coach Jennifer Brown said. “Having that space, opening up the field for those opportunities in front of the net which is great. I am glad we can finish it.”

St. Dom’s picked up the only goal in the first half when a long pass reached Gastonguay on the offensive side of the 50-yard line. She ran down field with it, created room for herself and fired the ball into the cage with 17 minutes remaining in the half.

“We really worked hard as a team transitioning it up (the field),” Gastonguay said. “It wasn’t just me, it was my teammates setting up for both goals. Everyone was trying their hardest on the field and it really paid off.”

Oak Hill put pressure on the Saints in the remainder of the half. Kylie Leavitt was sent off for St. Dom’s with a yellow card as she knocked down an Oak Hill player as both were trying to get the ball with 6:25 remaining in the half.

The Raiders tried a back door play with about four minutes remaining in the half but the shot went wide.

Oak Hill came out strong in the second half as it continued to rack up penalty corners. It finally struck.

Desirae Dumais brought the ball down the right side line and players converged to the cage as a battle ensued for the ball. Kaylei Robichaud pushed it past the goal line.

“I am very proud of my girls, they played their hearts out and gave it their all,” Gilbert said. “I couldn’t have asked anything more from them.

The play remained mostly on Oak Hill’s offensive zone. It had plenty of chances as it had 11 penalty corners in the second half. Simone Long backstopped the Saints into overtime.

“I needed to make sure my girls were calm,” said Long, who made four saves. “If they were calm we were all in it — we can do it and work out the win.”

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