There will surely be contrasting styles on tap when unbeaten Saint Dominics confronts upset-minded Jay High School in the Class C regional field hockey final Wednesday afternoon.

Top-ranked Saint Dom’s (16-0) will be appearing in its third-straight regional championship game. The Saints have displayed a high-powered offensive attack throughout the season, but their defense rose to the occasion in a hard-fought 3-2 win against Telstar last Saturday.

“It’s been said that defense wins championships,” St. Dom’s coach Brian Kay said. “Well, we’ve got a good one and they certainly deserve a lot of credit. Even though we’re ranked first, it doesn’t really matter at this point. Jay and us are each on the same level at this stage. We’ve both won two playoff games to get here.”

The Saints anchor is junior goalie Ilissa Vallee, who has allowed less than one goal per game this season. The sweeper is Becky Lewis who is surrounded with fullbacks Julie Vandermeulen Mallory O’Shea and Chelsea St. Onge-May.

No. 6 Jay (11-4-1) has proven its worth with upset wins on the road against North Yarmouth Academy and Old Orchard Beach on goals by Courtney Gould and Jaclyn Lantz (11 goals), respectively. The Tigers’ Rachel Gagnon and sisters Kristen and Ashley Uhuad can also score.

Still, these teams did not play each other during the regular season. The biggest gauge to go by is common opponents. Saint Dom’s handled NYA and OOB easily in the Western Maine Conference. Jay, meanwhile, beat Telstar 1-0 three weeks ago in MVC action.

“The team has played awesome in the playoffs,” Jay coach Sandy Morin said. “They’ve really come together and now the girls realize what they are capable of doing. I’m really proud of them. But, with St. Dom’s, I only saw them play in the second half on Saturday.”

The Saints’ offense can be explosive with Erica Dorso (36 goals, 30 assists) and younger sister Elisha Dorso (18, 18) who both possess breakaway speed. Erica Dorso scored a hat trick against Telstar and was thought to have set a Class C state record for most goals scored during a season. But on the same day Dexter’s Meagan Fogerty scored her 39th goal.

Sara Daigle is the other forward and Laura Rideout also receives quality playing time. But the midfield could be a key with center Catlin Rutt (10, 29), Michela Fyler (11 assists) and Melinda Hoyt.

“Our speed really helps,” Kay said. “I’m just going by the results of Jay’s other games and what we did against the same teams, but I expect a low-scoring game on Wednesday. We were tested by Telstar because, even though we had a two-goal lead, they came back at us and we needed it in order to feel the pressure.”

The 1-0 scores in the playoffs lend credence to the Tigers’ unrelenting defensive style. The game against NYA lasted through two overtimes. There will be five players back who will need to limit the Saints’ strong stick-to-stick passing. They include Heather Johnson, Sara Fetterhoff, Amy Gray, Jenna Lord and Bree Loon.

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