JAY — The changing face of the Saint Dominic Academy boys’ soccer roster this autumn might have transitioned the Saints from a dreaded opponent on the MVC schedule into a measuring stick.

However you view St. Dom’s, the end result is the same: Winning. Impressively.

Spruce Mountain squelched its vaunted visitors for a while Tuesday afternoon, but a triple-shot of second-half goals from S.J. Park, T.J. Rotolico and Brady Whetzel gave the Saints a 3-0 victory in a clash of unbeaten teams at Taglienti Field.

“We’ve had a hard time starting this year,” St. Dom’s coach Marty Bressler said. “We’ve been very slow starters, but once we calm down and we play our game, a lot of things work for us.”

St. Dom’s (6-0) hasn’t lost a conference game since 2010, the year before Jay and Livermore Falls consolidated as Spruce Mountain (4-1-1). Neither the Phoenix nor either of the preceding programs had gone undefeated through five games to start a campaign.

“That’s the best game we’ve ever played against St. Dom’s,” Spruce Mountain coach Bill Acritelli said. “That’s like a Class B team to us, and that’s good, because we play Class B in the playoffs. To be 0-0 at the half with them was great. We ran out of gas a little bit. They’re a good passing team.”

St. Dom’s outshot Spruce 16-4 in the first half and 43-9 overall. The tireless effort of goalkeeper Dustin Jones (24 saves) and Lucas Preble, Adam Gettle and Eli Krout in front of him kept it square until intermission.

Sophomore Austin Roy’s speed and persistence ignited the Saints’ attack. Roy won a free ball between two Phoenix defenders in the right corner and fired a shot from that challenging angle that rattled the near post.

The leftovers deflected straight out in front to Park, who booted home the breakthrough goal with 36:12 to go.

“The big thing was calming our nerves and keeping the ball on the ground and playing wide,” Bressler said. “They definitely figured out what that does.”

Working the ball inside paid more dividends with 15:58 remaining, when Park’s centering pass found senior Rotolico for the second goal.

Whetzel finished the scoring with 5:56 left on a rebound after Cameron Stewart rang the crossbar.

“We knew that we’d have to play defense,” Acritelli said. “Before this game we only gave up four goals in five games. To be going into this with a 4-0-1 record and playing like we did, I’m pleased. Some silly mistakes are what cost us the goals, and you learn from your mistakes and move on.”

Ben Sawyer made four saves for the Saints.

Spruce Mountain’s best opportunity came 10 minutes into the game, when Tristen Begin’s lofting boot from 25 yards away almost sailed over Sawyer’s head. The junior made the midair grab and was never seriously threatened again.

At the other end, Jones made multiple ranging, sliding stops to keep the Saints off the board.

“Any kind of positive result away is a great result. I felt like we had so many chances and we just didn’t finish,” Bressler said. “It made me quite happy that we put a lot of pressure on them and were able to finally punch it in. We’ve been working on it in training this week, and it definitely showed in the second half.”

koakes@sunjournal.com

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