POLAND — Apparently Poland’s second-half goal drew the ire of St. Dom’s in a Class C boys soccer game underneath a clear blue sky Saturday afternoon.

As time dwindled, it appeared the Knights’ 1-0 lead would hold, but the feisty Saints (4-4-2) responded with two goals of their own and slipped away with a 2-1 victory.

“I knew they were going to come out tough,” St. Dom’s coach Josh Shaw said. “I know these are a tough group of guys. I knew we had trouble with them the first time. I don’t think their record shows how tough these guys are. I mean they beat a good NYA team early on. Definitely frustrated because the fact that we were dominating possession and controlling it.

“We responded well. We got the first one and it definitely picked us up.”

The Knights, who appeared more determined in the second half, kept hammering away at the Poland net. At 28:32, Poland’s persistence paid off when senior forward Noah Breton drilled his shot from about 20 yards and into the right corner of the net to give the Knights’ a 1-0 lead.

After that, the Saints upped their tempo on offense and turned the tables on the Knights in spite of Poland goalie Davin Cloutier’s (11 saves) valiant efforts to hold off St. Dom’s.

“I think we have one of the best goalkeepers in the state,” Poland coach David Coyne said. “Forty saves in the first three games.”

Poland tied it with 12:11 left in the game. Junior forward Leandro Naous sent the ball over senior midfielder Alex Roy, who booted the ball into the Poland net.

“I am always sure about my placement,” Roy said. “(When it left my foot), I knew it was good. I didn’t even have to see it go in. I knew.

“I thought we played good. We moved the ball well, but we have to get more shots on net. We are going to work on that, getting shots on net. I think we played pretty well overall.

“Poland gave a good fight. Even though it was their homecoming, they came out to play. They gave us a game.” 

Roy’s goal riled up his teammates as the Saints kept the pressure on in front of the Knights’ net. 

Senior midfielder Jaden Webster delivered the game-winning goal after taking senior forward Evan Rivard’s feed at 10:27.

Saints goalie Matthew Gosselin (21 saves) got the win in net.

“I tend to send it to the side where the goalie is diving,” Webster said. “I am comfortable with sending it there, so I had a lot of faith in that going in. 

“We fought back,” Webster added. “We knew coming in they were going to fight hard, which they did. Obviously, they went up 1-0. So we just wanted to fight back real hard. I am just excited for the next game.”

Despite the outcome, Coyne was pleased with his Knights’ performance and thought Poland’s goal would stand in the second half.

“I was hoping, I was really hoping,” Coyne said. “We ended up leaving a guy wide open in the middle. I mean, we had two lapses and those cost us the game, but other than that our boys kept their composure and they played well. There was a lot of good things going on.

“(The Saints) are classy kids. They played hard; they work hard.” 

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