AUBURN – One team was scrambling to win its last two games to have a shot at making the playoffs. The other was still in search of its first win.

St. Dom’s still has its playoff hopes after a Columbus Day matinee, while Poland continues its quest for its first victory.

Four different Saints scored and Ryan Gilbert and Austin Fuller combined for six saves as St. Dom’s won its Western Maine Conference showdown with Poland 4-1 in its final home game of the season.

“We’ll take em when we can get em this year,” said St. Dom’s coach Lee Hixon. “If we can squeeze into the playoffs we’ll be one of the best No. 11 teams around, but the numbers are going to have to fall right for us to get in there.”

For Poland, the loss overshadowed a well-played game of possession soccer that seemed to frustrate the Saints’ forwards.

“In four years they’ve had three different coaches,” said Poland coach J.P. Yorkey. “All of us have taught different systems. The idea is going to be to try and build some consistency within the program, and this system of possession is the direction we want to go. The kids did really well today passing the ball and maintaining possession.”

Early on, despite not having a shot on goal for nearly half of the first frame, Poland (0-12-0) controlled the pace of play in its own end, making a series of short passes that kept the Saints (4-7-1) off-balance.

St. Dom’s used two timely turnovers and a couple of well-placed kicks to jump out to a 2-0 halftime lead.

First, Andrew Gilbert took a short feed from Andrew Crispin in the left corner, wheeled and fired a 22-yard shot that bounced just in front of Poland keeper Jason Depalma, who got a piece of it as it bounded into the net.

With 10 minutes to play in the first half, Greg Barlion took a ball deflected off of two defenders at the 18-yard mark and booted it into the bottom left corner.

In the second half, Poland’s Brendon Blake lined up a direct kick from 25 yards and fired a bullet into the wind, right at keeper Ryan Gilbert. The ball dove to the left as a gust of wind slowed it down, allowing it to hit the ground and elude the diving keeper.

Depalma saved several St. Dom’s chances in the minutes that followed, diving twice and snagging several high, floating kicks that appeared to be heading into the net.

“He’s young,” Yorkey said of his goaltender. “The improvement he has made is good, but there are still some balls that he should be covering that are bouncing away, He’s working on that.”

The Saints put the game away on a questionable goal credited to Jimmy Fish with 3:07 remaining.

With a flurry of activity inside the box, Depalma appeared to smother the ball, but play continued and a St. Dom’s forward knocked the ball away from the prone keeper. In the tussle, Fish slid the ball into the net to put the Saints ahead by one.

According to the rules, if the keeper has both hands on the ball and has immobilized it, the play should stop.

Despite the Poland bench’s pleadings, the goal was allowed to stand.

Dylan Nadeau added and insurance goal, firing a 35-yard bullet into the lower left corner of the net to cap the scoring.

St. Dom’s will finish its regular season on the road Wednesday against Gray-New Gloucester, while Poland finishes its regular campaign at home against Waynflete, also Wednesday.