AUBURN — Two things got in the way of St. Dom’s scoring goals early Wednesday afternoon — inexperience and Lisbon goalie Nate Bergeron.

The Saints were thwarted often by Bergeron throughout the day. St. Dom’s still  managed to execute well enough offensively and finish a couple as well in a 2-0 win over the Greyhounds.

“We’re still improving and learning how to finish,” said St. Dom’s coach Marty Bressler. “All the kids have the green light to shoot, but we’re still in that dribbling mode rather than passing and shooting.”

The Saints (5-0) got goals from Austin Roy and Chaise Hainey and played a solid game despite a slow start. St. Dom’s only has three regulars back from last year, and one of those seniors, TJ Rotolico, was out of the lineup. St. Dom’s got solid play in the midfield from Ryan Lutrzykowski and Jacob Charest in his place.

“We’re missing our central midfielder, who is brilliant at distributing the ball,” Bressler said of Rotolico. “With two sophomores being the central midfielders, I thought they did a great job trying to bring the tempo down to where we’re comfortable.”

Lisbon (0-2-1) gave the Saints a good battle. The Greyhounds have great speed up front and had St. Dom’s chasing them early. That was pretty good considering, Lisbon had played and lost to Hall-Dale Tuesday, 6-0, and were playing its third game of the week.

“This is the third game in three days,” said Lisbon coach Dan Sylvester. “We have our fourth game on Friday. We didn’t play very well against Hall-Dale. I thought these guys showed a lot of mental toughness.”

The Greyhounds were without senior defender Cam Ramich and lost senior midfielder Tyler Bard in the first half to an ankle injury. Lisbon has only scored one goal this season but moved the ball well early.

“Finishing is something we have to work on,” Sylvester said. “I’m really impressed with our guys rebounding, especially mentally. Our passing was pretty good in the first half. I think we just got tired a little bit in the second half.”

Kyle Whitman had an early bid for the Greyhounds but Saints keeper Ben Sawyer charged out to block the shot. The Saints had some quality opportunity of their own but either missed or were foiled by Bergeron, who finished with 12 saves.

Bergeron made a couple of  stops on SJ park and dove to rob Cam Stewart. Lutrzykowski put one over the net and Stewart hit the crossbar. The Saints were often tentative on offensive but started moving the ball better and setting up quality chances.

It paid off with 11:22 left in the half. Roy cut by the defense to the front of the net for an open shot and 1-0 lead.

From there, the Saints controlled play and possessed the ball effectively. Lisbon had trouble getting anything going in the second half as fatigue and fine execution by the Saints made it a challenge.

“At halftime, we said if we settle it down and we play our game, can we take control of the game? The answer was yes,” Bressler said. “That’s exactly what they did in the second half.”

Just 3:18 in, the Saints made it 2-0. Following a throw from the right sideline, the ball was out front in a crowd. Hainey collected the loose ball in some space, turned  and fired a low shot inside the left post.

The Saints kept the pressure on for much of the second half, but Lisbon made things interesting late. Zach Stevens had a dead ball from the right side and put it on net with 12:12 left. It hit the crossbar. It gave the Greyhounds a sudden lift, but Lisbon couldn’t produce anything more.

“They stretched the ball very well in the backfield,” Sylvester said. “They utilized their fullback very well. When they have that patience and have that two-goal lead, it’s a little difficult for us. If Zach could have punched that in, which was a great shot, that could have changed things.”

kmills@sunjournal.com

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