AUBURN – Their records were percentage points apart, but any similarities between the St. Dom’s and Greely field hockey teams, including the means used by each to attain their gaudy records, ended there.

The Saints used a dump-and-chase power game early and kept the pace of play quick so not to allow the Rangers to settle into their routine of finesse passing.

More importantly, St. Dom’s also ground out a goal on one of its five penalty corners to escape with a 1-0 win over Greely in a pivotal Western Maine Conference showdown Tuesday.

“We have been anticipating this game for a while,” said Saints’ co-captain Katie Landry. “This was a huge game for us. We played them last year, and it went into double overtime. They are a fantastic team. We were pumped for this game. We were ready.”

The Saints are now 6-0 and are in the driver’s seat in Western Class C despite starting the season with just four seniors overall, and one on the front line.

“We have a young forward line, and they’re only going to get better as we go on,” said St. Dom’s coach Brian Kay. “To play a Class B team like this, this is a huge win.”

One of those four seniors, Chelsea St. Onge-May, scored the lone goal of the contest on the only penalty corner for either team in the first half. The ball came in from the left side of the cage to Lauren Clark. Clark tipped the ball across the top of the circle to St. Onge-May, who fought through a sea of legs and poked the ball past Greely netminder Rebecca Stevenson.

“The corner probably didn’t turn out exactly the way we wanted it to,” said Clark, “but the team this year has been able to correct those corners that we mess up on right away.”

“The ball game, I got a lucky kick, and it went in,” said St. Onge-May. “Right place, right time, I guess.”

The Rangers (5-2) had opportunities in the second half, and for the better part of 15 minutes in the second half, they kept the Saints pinned in their own end.

“We needed to make adjustments that we didn’t make,” said Greely coach Robyn Cash. “When you only take a couple of shots all game, percentage-wise your chance to score isn’t that great. We needed more shots, and we didn’t get them.”

St. Dom’s keeper Austyn Carolin had to make just four saves to earn the shutout. Stevenson stopped seven in the loss.

The Saints resume their schedule Saturday with another tough game against a title contender when they face Sacopee Valley. St. Dom’s won an early-season meeting between the two, 2-1.