The St. Dom’s boys soccer team has a pretty experienced group of players – sitting on the bench. The defending Class C state champions have been hit hard by injuries this season. The Saints already had three starters out for the season before Wednesday’s 3-1 loss against North Yarmouth Academy. Junior midfielder Garrett Darnell is out six months with a knee injury. Junior midfielder Trevar Haefele is out with a shoulder injury.

Against NYA, starting sophomore defender Danny Street was helped off the field twice.

“We have a lot of injuries,” said St. Dom’s coach Matt Erickson. “Clearly there’s a lot of stuff that’s allowed to be played that injures our players. I sent (Street) to the hospital. He got kicked in the knee the first time and elbowed in the sternum the second time.”

Erickson has some depth to bolster his lineup, but against NYA the injuries were evident. With another starter, Jack Erickson, ejected from the game for a flagrant foul, the already shorthanded Saints were playing down a player. That put the strain on veterans like Matt Barlion and Ben Randall. The Saints battled hard against NYA, but wore down in the end of an emotionally charged game.

“There’s certain players I can’t take out of that game, and it showed at the end,” said Erickson.

Improving Knightly

Don King likes what he’s seeing at Poland Regional High School. The co-curricular director says the progress that is being made by the fall sports teams has been significant.

“I’m encouraged and excited about this fall,” said King. “There’s more going on out there than what’s on the scoreboard. Our football scores have been lopsided, but there’s some good stuff happening there. They’re going to get better. It just doesn’t happen fast enough.”

One team that is proof of that is Aaron Rand’s girls soccer team. With two wins over St. Dom’s in the last week-plus, the Knights have put themselves in the playoff hunt in Western B.

“They’re playing hard,” said King. “They’re tough kids. They’ll run you over.”

There’s a foundation in place that King sees building for a better future at Poland. During the summer, Rand had 40 girls playing soccer. Kris Wright had 30 with the boys soccer team. There was a junior American Legion team in addition to the older Legion squad, and the football team had 30 players committed to lifting regularly.

“We had a great summer,” said King. “I’d look around and see all this and think, ‘This is pretty good.'”