By Kalle Oakes,Staff Writer

WALES – Ask anyone in a St. Dominic Regional High School boys’ soccer uniform and there’s no consensus why the Saints couldn’t seem to buy a win in September.

Then again, by the time the jubilant Saints pig-piled a sniffling, stuffy-headed Greg Barlion at the end of the last Thursday afternoon in October, it didn’t matter much.

No. 11 St. Dom’s has evolved from skin-of-its-teeth playoff qualifier to regional finalist. Barlion’s overtime goal eliminated No. 2 Monmouth, 2-1, in a Western Class C semifinal at Oak Hill High School.

Oak Hill acted as the de facto home field for Monmouth, whose own athletic complex remains water-logged after this week’s Nor’easter.

Barlion connected 3 minutes, 24 seconds into the extra session for the Saints (9-7-1), who won their eighth consecutive game and third in the playoffs after capturing only one of the first nine on its Western Maine Conference schedule.

“I just saw the ball, chipped it in and everybody went crazy,” said Barlion. “It’s funny, because I played flat the whole game. I don’t feel so great.”

Nate Brown’s centering pass set up Barlion’s off-balance bid inside the 18-yard line. It was the first shot of overtime for St. Dom’s against Monmouth goalkeeper Scott Ogden, who played brilliantly throughout and finished with 14 saves.

His counterpart, Austin Fuller, turned away 13 shots for the Saints.

Monmouth (12-3-1) knotted the game with 4:54 remaining in regulation when Cam Saucier re-directed a rebound.

Ben Seefeldt set up the equalizer with a lofting direct kick from midfield that cleared the head of several St. Dom’s defenders. Fuller dove to deny Sean Holbrook’s open shot, but the ball quirted loose at Saucier’s feet.

Monmouth lamented several similar point-blank opportunities throughout the game that missed by a whisker. Nate Armstrong’s somersaulting throw-ins gave the Mustangs numerous chances in the St. Dom’s zone, especially in the first half, but Fuller and defenders Joe Theriault and T.J. Ustach combined to frustrate their Mountain Valley Conference foes at every turn.

“We had at least three golden opportunities in the first half and didn’t take advantage,” said Monmouth coach Gary Trafton. “The kids never gave up. My team has more heart than anybody in the state. I know that’s a strong statement, but I’ll take these 17 kids any day.”

St. Dom’s, which previously defeated Wiscasset and Waynflete and will travel to North Yarmouth Academy for Saturday’s title game, took the lead at 20:23 of the first half on a goal by Andrew Allen.

Allen, like Barlion, overcame some physical limitations.

“My back is killing me,” he said. “It just started today. I haven’t had many problems with it through the season.”

Their persistence was typical of the way the Saints have played down the stretch.

St. Dom’s defeated several Class A opponents in preseason and beat Traip early in the regular campaign before stumbling. With only four seniors on the roster and three freshmen seeing significant playing time, the team that couldn’t cope with September is one game away from playing a state final in November.

“It’s called hunger,” said St. Dom’s coach Lee Hixon. “When we beat Traip early in the season, I think we decided it was going to be that easy, and we found out differently. We squeaked in as the last team. Now our motto is worst to first.'”