AUBURN —  After a makeup match against Wiscasset on Friday, the last thing St. Dom’s wanted was a soft effort Saturday morning against Telstar.

“We felt like we had to make up for it and play harder,” senior midfielder Matt Roy said. “We came into this game wanting to play wider and trying to just pass the ball and communicate more than we did last game.”

After a physical battle Friday against the rival Redskins and scoreless tie, the Saints responded nicely with a commanding effort against the young Rebels. The Saints scored twice in the first eight minutes and never looked back in a 7-0 win.

“We were very disappointed from last night’s result,” said Bressler. “We felt like we should have finished them off early. We had great opportunities. I basically told the kids to forget about last night. It’s a brand new week and we need to move forward and play our game. The kids were very focused and disciplined and they played with a lot of class.”

Josu Asun had two goals and an assist for the Saints (4-0-1), while Jordan Charest and T.J. Rotolico each had a pair of goals. Calvin Stewart had a goal and an assist while Nick Hatfield had a pair of assists.

“We definintely came in ready to play,” said Roy. “We passed well. We played to the flag pretty well. We made a lot of nice diagonal balls and we finished.”

Telstar (0-4) had played Wiscasset tough in a 2-0 loss. The Rebels have a young team battling illness, and they found themselves outmatched by the Saints.

“They never gave up,” said Telstar coach Greg Luetje of his club. “I told them that we can’t let this define us as a team. We’ll play teams where we’re the big fish in the little pond. Today, we were the little fish.”

The Saints outshot Telstar 22-0 in the first half and built a 6-0 lead. Telstar keeper Rick James was outstanding. He finished with 11 saves.

“Rick James played a phenomenal game,” said Luetje. “He gives it his all every single game. That’s a tough game for any goalie to deal with.”

The Saints clicked from the get-go. Only 6:23 into the game, Asun set up Stewart in front for the first strike. At 7:38, Stewart returned the favor, feeding Asun from the right side for the 2-0 lead.

“The kids and I had a discussion on the bus after the game (Friday),” said Bressler. “We realized we escaped with a tie. We talked about it and said that this would be a great moving forward point. They wanted to buckle down and make this a new day. They came out with a lot of vigor that they should have.”

The Saints hit the crossbar twice in the first half but still made it 3-0 when Charest scored from the left side with 16:24 remaining. Asun netted his second of the game with 15:36 left, finishing off a Hatfield pass. Charest’s second goal was a blast that hit the top right corner of the net with 14:51 left. Then Rotolico finished the scoring in the first half with a goal with 6:36 remaining.

“We just had to come out with a game plan and know what we were going to do,” said Roy.

Telstar didn’t get its first shot of the game until a chip from Casey Blaszcak with 25:30 left in the second half. Tyler Brown had a bid go wide soon after as the Rebels started getting a little more offense going. Brown, Casey Blaszcak and Katie Blaszcak brought some scrappy play to the front line and helped the Rebels outshoot the Saints 7-3 in the second half.

The lone goal of the half came from Rotolico with 27 seconds left.

“It goes back to the senior leadership and the culture we’re trying to instill this year,” said Bressler. “It’s about staying calm, cool and collected and doing what we do best and stay with our game.”

[email protected]