AUBURN – There aren’t many better ways to learn where you stand in Class B boys’ lacrosse than confronting North Yarmouth Academy bright and early on a Saturday morning.

St. Dominic Regional High School confirmed what it already knew: The Saints are very much in the mix.

NYA ultimately flaunted too many weapons and superior depth in a 16-11 victory, but not before St. Dom’s led early, pulled even again in the third quarter and lurked until early in the fourth.

“To be able to run with one of the top four, top five teams in the state with the small team that we have is outstanding,” said St. Dom’s coach Jim Dock. “The outcome we had today, even though it was a loss, it was a good, solid game for us. It bodes well going into the second half of the season.”

Junior attack Trevar Haefele chalked up four goals and four assists for the Saints (4-3). Haefele’s set-up of Tim Day sliced St. Dom’s deficit to 12-10 with 10:50 remaining.

Finn Hadlock answered 33 seconds later with his second strike of the game. Cam Smith and Phil Champoux later made it a run of three straight goals while NYA (4-2) held St. Dom’s scoreless for more than seven minutes.

Gus Wellin led the Panthers with five goals and two assists. Smith and Champoux each added a hat trick, with Smith assisting five more.

“It’s pretty typical,” Smith, a junior, said of the scoring balance. “We’re missing one of our big scorers (Tom Gildersleeve) today, but other than that we don’t necessarily need one person to go off and score a lot of goals. That takes the pressure off.”

NYA, separated by only two seasons from a state title, has already played reigning Class A champion Scarborough and perpetual Class B power Cape Elizabeth.

“This easily could have been another 15-goal blowout, and we kept it tight,” Dock said. “We did what we needed to do against this team, and I think we’ll earn respect for it.”

Missed man-up opportunities might have cost St. Dom’s the upset.

After cashing in four times with odd numbers in the first half, the Saints saw five such gifts go unopened following intermission. Wellin fashioned his fifth goal during a Panthers penalty kill.

“They did a nice job. They did what I asked,” said NYA coach Chris Carpentier. “We go into these little lulls. Focus and intensity we need to keep up.”

St. Dom’s took advantage of three consecutive penalties with two goals by Haefele and another by Day to snag a quick 3-1 lead.

Smith had a stick in the next three goals, all in the final two minutes of the period. He scored the first. Champoux evened the score with a one-timer at 1:06, and Wellin gave the Panthers the lead in transition with eight seconds remaining.

NYA never trailed again, although back-to-back goals by Ben Adams knotted it at 9 with 5:21 to go in the third.

Hadlock hoisted the eventual game-winner past freshman goalie Cody Rodrigue just over a minute later.

Rodrigue was brilliant in the Saints’ cage, stopping 19 of 48 NYA bids.

“He made a lot of big saves, and the ones that went in, there’s not much you can do about those,” Dock said. “You go one-on-one with no defensemen chasing him down, it’s going to go in almost 100 percent of the time.”

Shane Hearn, Tim Millett and Rob Field each scored a goal for NYA.

Day and Adams both tallied three for the Saints and combined for three assists. Freshman Troy Haefele chipped in a goal and two helpers.

Four missed-time injuries took a chunk out of the Saints’ depth, particularly in the midfield. Most of the players returned to action, typical of the persistence Dock expects to see from his squad down the stretch.

“This game today is going to help us get through the second half,” he said. “We’re 4-3 now, but I think we’re going to finish 9-3, seriously.”