AUBURN — Six more days.

That’s what coach Kathy Little has been asking of her St. Dom’s girls’ soccer team this week. After being ousted in the first round last year, the Saints have reached the Western C final, a place no other St. Dom’s girls’ squad has ever been.

With the Western C title at stake Wednesday and a berth in Saturday’s state championship, Little has been asking her team if they have six more days in them.

“For us, when we entered the playoffs after the MVCs, we knew from last year that we could exit early,” said Little. “Once we got that (quarterfinal) win over Monmouth, that was momentum for them because we passed last year. Coming into the semifinal, we knew teams had made it to the semifinals, but no team had ever won and moved on to the next step. Now momentum is just going.”

The Saints hope it can keep going until sometime Saturday. After last year’s disappointment, St. Dom’s is experiencing the opposite, and it’s a pretty nice feeling.

“The girls have never gone this far before, just that makes us even more motivated,” said Taylor Paquet, a senior midfielder. “Thinking about winning Wednesday’s game is even more exciting. If we win, we go to states and no St. Dom’s team has ever gone to states.”

St. Dom’s graduated nine players from last year’s club but quickly rebuilt a winner with just four seniors and a number of younger players that stepped in to fill significant roles. The Saints went 13-0-1 and earned the top seed again. St. Dom’s then repeated as Mountain Valley Conference champs with a win over the defending state champions from Georges Valley.

“It’s so exciting,” said senior midfielder Hailey Girardin. “Everyone is so happy. All the seniors, we’re happy with how far we’ve come. We worked so hard to get here. We feel like we deserve to be here.”

Keeping that ride going won’t be easy. They play Sacopee Valley at 3 p.m. today. The Hawks went 12-1-1 in the regular season and finished second overall in Western C. Sacopee was tested in its Western Maine Conference schedule and beat a number of solid Western B teams in addition to beating all Class C foes. Their only loss was a 1-0 setback against Richmond, a team vying for the Western D title.

“We’ve got to show up to play from the get-go,” said Little. “We know it’s going to be a tough competitive game. Sacopee has done very well in the Western Maine Conference this year. They’ve played tough competition. We know they have nine seniors on the squad.”

The Hawks not only were a former rival of the Saints when both teams played in the WMC, but Sacopee was also the team that knocked St. Dom’s out of the playoffs last year. It is a point of emphasis that the Saints are not forgetting this week.

“It definitely fires us up because they’re like our rivals,” said Sophie Goulet, a senior midfielder. “I think more than anything we want to beat them so bad.”

Coming in as the eighth-seed last year, the Hawks beat top-ranked St. Dom’s in Auburn in overtime, 3-2, rallying from behind to do it. Senior forward Emily Lane had two goals and an assist, including the game-winning goal in overtime. The Hawks are a very similar team with a solid defense led by Catherine Murch and goaltender  Courtney Ross. There’s also all-state talent in Lane up front along with Kara Singleton.

“I think we’re really prepared and have gotten out the jitters from the first(playoff)  game,” said Meagan Lawrence, a senior midfielder. “So we just have to come out and play our game.”

The Saints have struggled at times playing complete games this season, especially against weaker MVC teams. One of the obstacles in last year’s playoff loss was their inability to settle down and execute the way they had all season. St. Dom’s enters this game a little more playoff-seasoned.

“We learned that every game is a new game and that we have to keep our heads and stay focused,” said Girardin. “We can’t sit back and not go hard to the ball all the time.”

Lawrence says that the team’s play must fuel the momentum, not the other way around.

“We definitely have a lot of momentum, but we can’t let things go to our heads,” said Lawrence. “We still have to stay focused and know what we have to do.”

The Saints are feeling good about the way they’re playing, but they’re not taking that for granted. The Hawks provide them a matchup that assures St. Dom’s of a pretty hefty challenge. Old Orchard Beach, the team St. Dom’s beat in the semifinal last week, was beaten twice by the Hawks in one-goal games.

“I don’t think we’re overconfident, but we have enough confidence to win this game,” said Goulet. “We have to settle down and play our game and not force it and freak out just because it’s a playoff game. We’re more composed this year.”

In addition to the momentum, the Saints have a little extra motivation since it is Sacopee Valley. It is also a chance to redeem themselves.

“The team is really excited to get revenge on them, but we’re also really nervous because last year we had a tough time,” said Paquet. “It’s really great that we get to play them again.”

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