AUBURN — What seemed so difficult Friday, TJ Rotolico made look easy.

Though the St. Dom’s boys’ soccer team had ample number of shots early in its game with Monmouth, the Saints couldn’t finish. Neither could the Mustangs.

But after a scoreless first half, Rotolico had two opportunities that he didn’t miss. That was enough to lift the Saints to a 2-0 win over the Mustangs.

“It’s been like that all season with a young and inexperienced team,” St. Dom’s coach Marty Bressler said. “We just have a problem finishing early. I really like what we were doing late in the first half and ultimately, the second half was outstanding. We just have to do that earlier. It’s not going to cut it in the playoffs if we wait too long. It’s not going to be there.”

Rotolico broke the stalemate with a goal with 16:42 left in the second half. He added a second tally with 11:27 left.

“I’m quite pleased with TJ,” Bressler said. “He’s a phenomenal offensive player. It’s exactly what we needed. I was pleased with his initiative and how he took the ball himself and just buried it.”

Monmouth (4-3)  put up a good battle. The Mustangs didn’t have as many quality shots as the Saints (10-0) but had their chances.

“St. Dom’s is good,” Monmouth coach Joe Fletcher said. “I take nothing from them. We played hard. They’re a little better than us.”

Monmouth keeper Kasey Smith was superb in net. He made 14 stops as the Saints outshot the Mustangs 22-6.

“Usually we play really well passing-wise,” said Rotolico, a senior midfielder. “We’re a really good passing team. We just couldn’t seem to connect.”

Calvin Stewart and Rotolico each had early chances. Chase Hainey had a shot tipped over the net by Smith. He had another hard shot from the outside saved by Smith.

Monmouth had a rush by Hunter Richardson that a defender broke up. Kyle Fletcher had a shot saved and a corner by Joe Menice hit the crossbar.

“We hit the crossbar midway through the first half on the corner kick,” Fletcher said. “If that goes in, it’s a completely different game.”

SJ Park, Jon Sturgis and Connor Samson all had tries early in the second half. Mason Clements had a shot from the corner for Monmouth that keeper Ben Sawyer saved.

“Everybody focuses on Fletcher, he’s an excellent player,” Bressler said. “Richardson was really impressive. He put so much pressure on us. If he was able to score on a couple of chances he had, that would have totally shifted the dynamics of the game.”

Instead, it was Rotolico that scored the first goal. After a throw from the right side, the ball was sent to the left side of the field. Austin Roy put it back toward the goal. Rotolico was there to finish it with a low shot inside the left post.

That forced the Mustangs to load up the offensive zone. The Mustangs created pressure and got shots from Mason Clement and Menice, but it was a counter attack by Rotolico that made Monmouth pay.

“When we play that style, we just burn ourselves out because we only have two subs,” Fletcher said.

Rotolico took the ball from the defensive end of the field and carried it upfield. He had some Saints in the center of the field and had the Mustangs rushing to get back defensively. He cut back toward the net on the left side and fired it into the opposite corner.

“They packed it down,” Rotolico said. “The corner kick popped out. I just looked up and saw some empty space, and I just took it.”

kmills@sunjournal.com

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