AUBURN — In last year’s Class C State championship game, St. Dom’s and Lake Region combined for 28 goals.

The Lakers won that game, 19-9.

Wednesday, in the rematch, the two teams barely combined to reach double digits as the Saints emerged from the defensive battle with a 6-4 victory.

Senior midfielder Avery Lutrzykowski and senior attacker Emma Theriault each had two goals for the Saints.

St. Dom’s scored five of its six goals in the first half.

“I think the first half, we paid attention to being patient on our cuts and our passes,” St. Dom’s coach Leslie Klenk said. “In the second half, we got a little misdirected on that, but I really liked the defensive effort that we played today throughout the game. I think they held the ball outside and I think they did a good job containing them as a unit.”

Lutrzykowski opened the scoring 65 seconds into the contest. The game remained 1-0 for nearly three minutes before Brianna Sargent found the back of the net for the Lakers.

St. Dom’s gained momentum in the first half by winning the majority of the draw controls, and that turned into goals, including Mia-Angelina Leslie’s tally that gave the Saints a 2-1 lead at the 7:30 mark. A few minutes later, Charlotte Gastonguay found Tayrn Cloutier for a 3-1 lead.

Lutrzykowski later scored her second goal of the game off a free position to extend St. Dom’s advantage to 4-1.

“We were really excited for this game, considering what happened last year,” Lutrzykowski said. “We have been looking forward to this game since last year. I think that’s something that fueled our adrenaline.”

Lake Region (2-3) stopped the Saints’ run of three unanswered goals when Mackenzie Siebert beat St. Dom’s goalie Simone Long with 3:26 remaining in the opening half.

Theriault gave the Saints a 5-2 lead heading into halftime with her first goal of the game with 2:07 left in the half. Gastonguay picked up her second assist of the contest on the goal.

Lake Region seized the momentum at the start of the second half, finally capitalizing capitalized on a Paige Davis goal at the 5:20 mark.

“We got a few more draws in the second half, which helped,” Lake Region coach David Keenan said. “They were still hustling to the ground balls, and that’s the difference in a tight game like that. It’s about who has more possessions; they had a lot more than we did.”

The Saints (4-0) responded quickly off the draw control. Theriault picked up a ground ball in the offensive end and beat Emily Lake 29 seconds after Davis’ goal.

Shauna Hancock scored for Lake Region to make it 6-4 about seven-and-a-half minutes into the second half.

For the remainder of the game, both defenses, particularly goalies Lake and Long, took control. Lake had a sequence in which she made back-to-back saves on the Saints shooters that kept the deficit at 6-4.

“We had some bright spots today,” Keenan said. “We have a little work to do to get back on track.”

The Saints also had three shots that hit the post.

“That happens all the time,” Klenk said. “I was happy with the placement, we worked on the placement (of our shots) a lot. If it hits the post, it’s almost there and it’s a good shot for me.”

At the other end, Long held her ground as the Lakers primarily controlled the possession, especially late in the half. Long made a couple big saves in the final minutes to maintain the two-goal lead.

“It was making sure my (teammates) were calmed and controlled,” Long said. “As long as I knew they were calm, I knew they would be able to defend for us and make sure the ball didn’t get too close to me.”

She made seven saves in the game, while Lake made five.

“When a (team) is shooting, it comes down to the goaltenders,” Klenk said. “Both of them should be commended, they stepped up when they needed to.”