AUBURN – This time they were ready.

After North Yarmouth Academy watched St. Dom’s strike first earlier this season, the Panthers wanted to be prepared in Wednesday’s rematch.

“St. Dom’s plays with a lot of emotion,” said NYA coach Jeff Thoreck. “When we played them at our place, they scored first, and they really used that emotion to their advantage. This time, we knew if we did get scored upon, we made sure not to put our heads down but to maintain our focus and play our game.”

So when the Saints scored with 7:27 left in the first half to tie the game, St. Dom’s momentum didn’t last long. Just 27 seconds later, NYA struck back. Caty Von Brecht scored the first of her two goals to break the tie. The Panthers added a third goal late in the first half and scored twice in the second in a 5-1 victory.

“We didn’t play our game,” said St. Dom’s coach Kathy Little, whose club eventually lost to NYA 3-1 in the first meeting. “We’re battling injuries right now, and we didn’t mark. They beat us to the ball, and we didn’t mark well. That was a key part of the game.”

The Saints were without starters Laura Robitzek and Autumn Bell. St. Dom’s also had a number of kids playing injured. That left them a bit shorthanded against the unbeaten Panthers (12-0-1), ranked fourth in the latest Western C Heal Point standings. The Saints (8-4-1) were ranked sixth. St. Dom’s tied the game when Heidi DeHann snuck a shot from the right side by a defender and former teammate and NYA goaltender Emily Staszak. Rachel Nadeau helped set up the goal, and the Saints had begun evening things out after NYA dominated the early going.

Like their first goal, however, the Panthers took advantage of a Saints’ letdown to break the tie. With 7:04 remaining, Von Brecht took a Molly Moss pass and chipped it in.

“We did a great job of tying it up, and afterward, we just sat back and relaxed,” said Little. “It goes to show that if we do that, another team will take the advantage and score. So that’s very important that after we score we don’t letdown. We have to keep playing intense and try to put another one in the back of the net.”

NYA made it 3-1 with 1:07 left in the first half. Alex Mack dribbled by a defender and curled a shot by Saints keeper Danielle Theriault, who had 15 saves during a busy afternoon.

The Panthers got goals from Adi Philson and another from Von Brecht in the second half to pad the lead. St. Dom’s only threats in the second half came on rushes by Michelle Hamann and Corey Erickson.

“We’ve got to play 80 minutes of soccer,” said Little. “We need to play a consistent game for 80 minutes.”