AUBURN – The goals didn’t come as sudden as the overtime winner in Thursday’s overtime loss for St. Dom’s, but they came quick enough.

Unbeaten North Yarmouth Academy scored three goals in less than 10 minutes to hand the Saints a 3-0 defeat in girls’ soccer Saturday. It was the third straight loss for St. Dom’s after a 3-0 start.

“It is tough and it is frustrating,” said Saints coach Kathy Little, whose team hosts the defending Western C champs from Traip Thursday. “But I know we’ll turn it around. Come next week, we have three days of practice. We’ll work on things that we need for the upcoming game. We’ll bounce back. We’re coming together as a team. We’re communicating more, and we’re working together.”

After a strong start by NYA (6-0), the Saints managed to equal things out in the first half. The Saints even had a couple of nice cracks at scoring on bids by Abigail Gilbert and Lindsey Rowbotham.

The second half, however, was a different story. The Panthers quickly assumed control and got a hat trick from junior striker Hannah Fuller, who leads NYA with 10 goals.

“I think they just played a little more like we’d been practicing,” said NYA coach Jillian Hansen. “In the first half, we came out pretty strong and then we let down, and they came back into the game. We weren’t controlling the ball. We weren’t controlling the tempo of the game. We weren’t connecting on our passes. That’s what we tried to focus on in the second half.”

NYA outshot the Saints 13-4 in the second half. Though Saints keeper Emily Staszak played a strong game and denied a number of early tries, the Panthers produced three goals in succession to open the lead.

“I would account a couple of their goals to defensive marks that weren’t tight enough in the backfield,” said Little. “We gave them a little too much room. We didn’t go with the runners.”

The first came 7:58 into the second half. Off a direct kick, Alex Mack opted to pass the ball and found Fuller on the right wing. She scored from four yards away.

“Depending on the distance out, we’ll judge whether to put it on net or try to make an assist out of it,” said Hansen. “For that distance, it was a close call. She made the decision to put it to the right side of the goal.”

At 12:43, Fuller started a breakaway and was chased by four Saints defenders. She dropped the ball back to Bobbi Dennison, who fired a shot off the crossbar. The rebound came out front for Fuller to head in from 16 yards out.

Then at 17:39, Molly Moss crossed a pass from the right side. Fuller was there in front to one-touch it to the top right corner of the net.

“On all three of those, she finished nicely,” said Hansen. “She’s been very strong for us. She’s been in the right place at the right time. She has a great first touch on the gall and it allows her to put the ball where she wants it to go. That’s such an advantage for a striker to have.”

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