LEWISTON – All it took was a spark.

After an uninspired first quarter that produced just two total shots on goal, Lewiston woke up. Evan Cyr scooped up a ground ball and fired a shot past St. Dom’s goalkeeper Brendon Dyer from 20 feet away, lighting a fire under a Blue Devils offense that went on to score six goals in the final seven minutes of the first half en route to an 8-3 win over rival St. Dom’s Saturday.

“It took us a while to warm up to the game,” said Cyr, who finished with two goals and an assist. “We got used to the way they were playing and started to figure out a way to beat the defense.”

“We were all pretty nervous,” agreed teammate Ben Fournier, who won the Morgan McDuffee Award as the game’s MVP. “Once we all relaxed and started to play our own game, things just started happening for us.”

And happen they did. Quickly. Less than one minute after Cyr opened the scoring, Kirk Bolduc slipped a shot past Dyer from the right side. Less than another minute after that, Sean Boulanger rippled the mesh again, padding the Blue Devils’ lead.

“Once you get on a streak in this game, it’s hard to slow a team down,” said Lewiston coach Tom Fournier. “You saw that with us in the first half.”

Cyr added his second, followed by another from Bolduc, and then Ben Fournier notched his first of the game to complete the scoring at half-time.

St. Dom’s wasn’t about to go down without a fight, though.

Led by Patrick O’Connell’s three goals, the Saints actually outscored the Blue Devils 3-2 in the second half, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the deficit.

“We kind of sat back a bit, moved the ball around a bit more,” said Tom Fournier. “That and their keeper played a stellar half of lacrosse.”

Dyer was nothing short of spectacular throughout much of the second half, stopping several point-blank shots from a variety of directions and players, including one with his chest protector that produced an echo off of the metal stadium seats.

“I just adjusted the best I could after the first half,” said Dyer. “They seemed to be shooting a lot of low balls, so I crouched a bit lower and was ready for those.”

Dyer ended the game with 13 saves, nine of which came in the second half.

The win was the first for Lewiston over St. Dom’s in the three-year history of the program at the varsity level. It is also the best start in three years for the Blue Devils, who improved to 3-1.

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