AUBURN – You couldn’t hear a giant sigh of relief from the St. Dominic boys’ soccer team, but you could certainly see it.

When the Saints rallied to tie the game Wednesday, it marked the extent of St. Dom’s comeback.

The Saints appeared to be relieved after Greg Barlion’s tying goal, and NYA took advantage of the letdown, scoring two second half goals in a span of 1:50 in a 4-2 win.

“It’s like starting all over, and they didn’t start with a lot of intensity,” said St. Dom’s coach Lee Hixon. “When it got back to a brand new ballgame, they didn’t play with a lot of intensity.”

NYA (3-3-1) broke the tie with 8:45 left in the game when Taki Pilitsis finished off a corner kick served up by Scott Carpenter. Then with 6:55 remaining, Peter Lowell burst up the middle and scored on his own rebound.

“I was proud of them,” said NYA coach Ben Graham. “It’s not often my boys do that. Last year, they might have capitulated. The pendulum had swung in their favor. To get back into it, I was obviously very pleased, and it showed the character of this team.”

With NYA losing 13 players from last year’s club and the Saints (3-4) missing 12, it wasn’t the pairing of veteran teams seen in recent years. Still, the intensity was there, and emotions ran high. Six yellow cards and a red were handed out.

NYA took a 2-0 lead on a pair of Carpenter goals from outside the box within 1:32 of each other in the first half.

“At halftime, I asked them Are you guys ready to turn this around? At least put a mark on the board, play with some intensity and play with some pride.'” said Hixon. “Just like that, we were back in the game.”

T.J. Ustach scored off a Nathan Brown cross to the front of the goal at 1:50. Barlion tied it off an indirect with 16:05 left. Ryan Guerin’s chip was headed by Andrew Allen. It hit a body in the goalmouth, but Barlion steered it in.

The Saints momentum lasted only so long. Carpenter’s corner was out of the reach of Saints goaltender Ryan Gilbert. Pilitsis was at the right post to redirect it for the game-winner.

“We haven’t scored one from the penalty box all season,” said Graham. “I said Let’s get some goals in the penalty box.’ They were scrappy, and it shows we’ve got some presence in there.”