BETHEL — St. Dom’s has passed the midway point of its second season in the Mountain Valley Conference the same way it started the 2010 soccer season.

Still unbeaten.

Jack Erickson scored both goals and the Saints posted their fifth shutout of the season in a 2-0 victory over Telstar on a misty Monday.

The Saints made it 22 straight MVC games without a loss while improving to 7-0-1 on the season. The Rebels dropped to 5-2-1.

“We had that one tie at Wiscasset (1-1 last Wednesday), but hopefully we’ll take momentum into the second half of the season and get a good field assignment for the playoffs,” St. Dom’s coach Matt Erickson said.

Both teams had to contend with a slick and bumpy field in the afternoon drizzle. The pitch tilted the Saints’ way for most of the first half, but they rushed their counters at times.

“We had more time in the back than we used,” Matt Erickson said. “We were a little hectic, honestly. I think we had some more time to move the ball in the back to pull them out of shape. We were just playing long-ball, which is a bad habit.”

When they went with the flow, the Saints’ Jack Erickson, Alex Parker and Kurt Johnson put solid pressure on Telstar goalie Ricky James (13 saves). Parker set up Erickson for his first goal, a skidder to the lower left corner just out of the reach of a diving James at 13:59.

After a hectic first half of their own, the Rebels played a more controlled game to start the second half and got some more quality chances.

“They have two different styles of play, this team,” Telstar coach Greg Luetje said. “When they control the ball and play the type of game that St. Dom’s plays, a little small ball, and work the ball up the field, they’re a lot deadlier team. They can do that stuff. It’s just that when they get flustered they tend to go over the top.”

“They’re greatly improved over last year,” Matt Erickson said of Telstar. “Coach Luetje’s doing a great job here. We saw a lot of one-touch passing combinations, which I’ve never seen from this team before.”

The Saints, who went far deeper into their bench than the Rebels, cranked up their transition game in the second half and gave Telstar’s defenders less time to set up. Jack Erickson added the insurance goal 4:56 into the second half, redirecting an Austin Gervais feed just inside the left post.

The Rebels had several opportunities to cut the lead in half. Daniel Vaughn had a shot deflect off the chest of goalie Cam Hainey (five saves), but Hainey recovered just in time to pounce on the ball before Nick Mills could get a foot on the rebound.

Vaughn gave himself another quality chance when he dribbled around two  defenders on the right wing and fired a shot off the far post.