LISBON FALLS — With a quick three-goal lead, Tuesday’s soccer game initially appeared like an easy outing for St. Dom’s.

The Saints scored three times in the first 14 minutes and dominated the start of the game.

Lisbon, however, didn’t go away quietly, especially on its home turf.  The Greyhounds continued to try and rally from the early deficit, but the Saints managed to hold off Lisbon in a 5-3 victory.

“We just sat back and thought it was going to be easy,” St. Dom’s coach Marty Bressler said. “(Lisbon coach Dan) Sylvester’s teams don’t quit. I give them a lot of credit. They continued fighting and made the most of their opportunities.”

Lisbon cut the deficit to two goals twice in the game but just couldn’t make up for the Saints’ advantage in experience. St. Dom’s possessed the ball for much of the game. Lisbon scored on its opportunities but needed one or two more finishes to threaten the lead.

“I think our guys did learn a lot from today,” said Sylvester. “We had to go out and put the effort out there. We have to play smart and not give up on ourselves. We had to do what we can do and finish when it comes along.”

Tyler Furtado scored twice for St. Dom’s (5-0), including the goal in the second half that made it 5-2. Zak Johnson had a pair of assists while Calvin Stewart had a goal and an assist.

Lisbon got two goals from Kyle Whitman and one from Aaron Halls. Freshman keeper Nate Bergeron was strong in net, stopping 11 shots. The Saints outshot the Greyhounds 25-7 overall.

“We knew coming in they were going to have more skill,” said Sylvester, whose team drops to 0-3-1. “We had to make sure that when we had opportunities to possess the ball, we couldn’t get into a kick and chase. When we started to settle in, we saw some short passes and that led to some breakways.”

The Saints, who’ve scored 23 goals in five games this season, struck twice in the first five minutes. Rob Pallozzi had a shot saved but put in the rebound at 3:20. Two minutes later, Furtado headed in a Johnson flip-throw for the quick lead, and at 12:26, Johnson sent a pass through the defense to Stewart, who put a shot inside the right post for the 3-0 lead.

Lisbon, which had scored just two goals and allowed 11 going into the game, got a breakaway tally from Halls with 7:37 left in the half. That gave the Greyhounds some momentum but an own goal quickly returned the Saints to a 4-1 lead with 4:35 left.

Then Whitman scored his first, converting a rush with a chip under the crossbar with 3:37 left in the half.

“They’ve got some really fast strikers,” said Bressler. “Sylvester has done a great job considering he lost an unbelievable amount of talent. When you come here you always know they’re going to hustle and going to work. They’ve got some speed guys up top. If you don’t communicate and you don’t transition quickly on defense, you’re going to get burned.”

St. Dom’s controlled play in the second half but Lisbon was playing with some momentum. The Greyhounds nearly got a break when Brady Fenderson’s corner nearly deflected in off a St. Dom’s defender. Saints keeper Ben Sawyer was there for the stop.

With 18:42 left, Furtado netted his second. He took a pass from Stewart and cashed in from the left side for the 5-2 lead.

“These kids have an edge,” said Bressler. “They get mad when they give up goals. They know that shouldn’t have happened. So they came out fired up in the second half.”

Lisbon got one more when Whitman scored on another break, sent in by Tyler Bard, with 8:31 left. Whitman had another opportunity late in the game but his bid was blocked by a defender.

“To see that we finished, that’s the confidence that we needed,” said Sylvester. “It’s not very common to score three goals on St. Dom’s.”

kmills@sunjournal.com

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