RUMFORD — The Mountain Valley boys’ lacrosse team faced a tough challenge, especially when St. Dom’s took full control of the action Wednesday afternoon.

The trio of Troy Haefele, Matt Adams and Anthony Fagone combined for all but one goal and the St. Dom’s defense proved to be up to the task in a convincing 14-2 triumph over Mountain Valley under warm, sunny skies.

It became evident early on that St. Dom’s (2-0) was a more skilled team, enhanced by a stronger passing attack around the perimeter. This had Mountain Valley (0-3) defenders Nathan and Scott Nicols rotating back in to the zone.

“We just felt thankful to be playing,” said St. Dom’s coach Dave Haefele, who lauded the excellent playing surface. “This is only our second game this season and we started off a little slow. Mountain Valley proved to be a worthy opponent.”

The Saints substituted freely in an effort to find the most effective combinations. Adams would get into the scoring action on a Haefele 3:15 in to the first period. Fagone netted a power-play goal past Falcon goalie David Widger (seven saves).

Mountain Valley received a jolt when Travis Blachard carried the play in from the right side and flicked a shot past Saints goalie Cody Rodrigue (three saves). The Falcons trailed 2-1 with 6:37 left in the opening period, the Saints scored 10 unanswered goals to lead 12-1 at halftime.

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“The first half hurt us,” MV coach Jeff Gilbert said. “St. Dom’s was successful with give and go passes and they were getting behind us. ‘David (Widger) had trouble picking up (Saints) bounce passes.”

The Saints poured it on offensively with seven goals in the second period. Haefele had a hand in the first five goals in the second. The junior finished the day with a game-high six goals and four assists.

Haefele drilled home a shot from out front and then set up Adams (four goals, assist). Haefele scored on a Bobby St. Hilaire assist. Fagone (four goals) closed out the first half with two wristers.

“Things turned around for us in the second period,” coach Haefele said. “I thought we were complacent warming up, but after the first period we gave the kids a pep talk.’’

MV made the second half a different story by picking up its intensity level. Josh Allen was active on faceoffs and ground strokes, while Nicholas Sterling carried play in to the offensive zone and Brandon Milligan was a factor after switching to defense.

The Falcons’ Kyle Duguay scored on a shot from the left side with 10:05 left in the game.

“I’m really proud of the team played today,” Gilbert said. “Especially, after we made some adjustments for the second half. Brandon moved back from attacker and I told him to stick to (Troy Haefele) like glue. We held them to two goals.”


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