AUBURN — Emily Keene was both lucky and good Wednesday afternoon.

As St. Dom’s tried to rally late in its girls’ soccer game with Spruce Mountain, Keene found herself in good position and in good fortune. 

The Saints had moved the ball to the right side of the net where Kelley McLellan had an open look at the equalizer with ten minutes left. Keene caught sight of the ball and reacted just in time to make the save.

“I kind of got lucky,” said Keene, a freshman netminder for the Phoenix. “It was kicked right to me. I was in the right position. I got an eye on and got lucky.”

Minutes later, Alexi Deering scored her second goal of the game and Spruce Mountain remained unbeaten with a 3-1 win over the Saints.

“This is a huge win,” said Keene. “We’ve never beaten them before. Coming in as a freshman and knowing we’d never beaten them, it was a huge win for us.”

Deering scored her 12th and 13th goals of the season for the Phoenix (4-0) while Vanese Barnes added her third of the season for the victory. Spruce Mountain was ranked third in Western B while the defending MVC champs were second in Western C.

“Two years we’ve been playing St. Dom’s, we’ve always played them tough,” said Spruce Mountain Coach Jon Blaisdell. “We’ve never been able to beat them. We’ve had two ties and two losses by one goal, so to win this is huge for us.”

The Saints (2-2), who hadn’t lost a regular season game in the MVC two seasons, got a goal from Emily Caron. She left the game late in the first half after taking the ball off her face. St. Dom’s outshot the Phoenix 18-8 but couldn’t convert.

“We tried to play possession,” said St. Dom’s coach Kathy Little. “I don’t think our possession game was the best. We just needed to settle and look to link up our passes. We have to look to play to our teammates and not just loft it in.”

The Phoenix scored on their first threat just 8:04 into the game. Deering burst by two defenders and drew keeper Mary Caron out of the goal. Caron made the stop on Deering’s shot, but Barnes was there to put the loose ball into an open net.

“As long as we can keep pressure on them up front, that’s going to pay off for us,” said Blaisdell.

The Saints nearly tied it when Kayla McLellan hit the crossbar with 25:47 left in the half. Later, St. Dom’s did get the equalizer when Emily Rioux passed the ball to the right side. Emily Caron was there to put a nice shot on net that eluded Keene with 16:55 left.

“We possessed it and were able to slide the ball through and find the opposite corner,” said Little.

A defensive mistake by the Saints led to Deering’s first goal. St. Dom’s mishandled the ball and left it for Caron in the net. As she came out to play it, Deering raced by the defense, stole the ball and had an open look at the net with 4:04 left in the half.

“I thought we played a very hard game and played a good game, but (Spruce Mountain) capitalized on our mistakes,” said Little.

The Saints controlled play most of the second half and outshot the Phoenix 9-4. St. Dom’s just couldn’t finish its chances. Kayla McLellan had a bid saved by Keene early. Then Kirsten Conner had a shot from the right side, and Kelley McLellan’s shot late was saved. Nicole Levesque had a shot hit the crossbar.

“We couldn’t force a mistake and we couldn’t finish either,” said Little. “We couldn’t buy ourselves a goal.”

Though the Saints had the Phoenix defense on its heels for much of the second half, Spruce Mountain stayed poised. The defense was able to clear the ball effectively and avoid making critical mistakes in front of the net.

“They saved me every time,” said Keene about the play in front of her. “They helped out. Without them, I don’t do anything.”

With 5:57 left, Deering got the ball at midfield. She outran a defender. Caron came out of the net, but Deering was able to beat her to the loose ball and put it onto an open goal.

“I finally felt this was the first time I wasn’t bringing a knife to a gun fight,” said Blaisdell. “I felt I had a team that would be able to play with them for a change.”

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