AUBURN — It’s been a rivalry that’s been brewing for a couple of seasons now, and Tuesday’s contest only upped the ante between the St. Dom’s and Wiscasset boys’ soccer teams.

The two unbeaten teams battled to a 1-1 tie and set the stage for a rematch at the end of the regular season. Wiscasset is the top-ranked team in Western C at 6-0-1 while the Saints are second at 5-0-1. The two teams meet again in the last game of the regular season, under the lights October 15.

“They’re probably our biggest rivals in my opinion,” Wiscasset keeper Mason Brewer, who had 11 saves as the Saints outshot the Redskins 13-8, said. “So it’s exciting to come here and play them. We’ve played most of those kids all our lives in club soccer. This team knows us and we know them.”

The teams met a few years ago in the playoffs, and then played three times last year. The Saints won both regular season matches 6-0 and 1-0 before winning the Western C semifinal, 2-0. In the playoff win, the Saints outshot Wiscasset 16-2 and had two goals disallowed.

“We’re both different teams this year,” St. Dom’s forward Alex Parker said. “We knew they were going to be a quality team. It’s good for us to get a game like this to prepare us for the playoffs.”

With 15 upperclassmen back, the Redskins were gunning for the defending Class C state champs Tuesday and wanted to see how they measured up.

“We were definitely excited to come up here,” Wiscasset forward Ross Hanley said. “We’ve always thought of them as our rival. They beat us a couple times last year. So we definitely wanted to come here and prove ourselves.”

The Saints took a 1-0 lead in the first half and had the better of the chances but couldn’t add to the lead. Wiscasset played a stronger second half and got a tying goal from Hanley.

“We knew they’d be strong,” St. Dom’s coach Matt Erickson said. “We knew what their record is, and I thought they played really good. Both teams are worthy of their record. They deserved to be 6-0 coming in and we deserved to be 5-0.”

Wiscasset had a couple shots from John McLeod in the first half but otherwise, the Saints had the better of the opportunities. St. Dom’s was hampered by numerous offsides calls but still managed to get some good shots. Zak Johnson had a breakaway bid, and Dakota Keene had a low shot that Brewer saved. When the Saints were able to time a play just right, it set up a goal with 11:15 left in the half.

St. Dom’s got Jack Erickson and Parker in behind the defense. Erickson drew the keeper and dished off to Parker, who had an open net.

“We’ve been running that same play most of the game,” Parker said. “We knew it was going to happen one time.”

In the second half, Wiscasset picked its game up and created some better offensive chances. Ashton Benn  headeda shot wide while another opportunity was cleared out by Saints defender Chris Finlay. The Redskins did take advantage of a defensive mistake when Hanley converted a loose ball with 26:36 left in regulation.

“It was going around in the box a little bit,” Hanley said. “It was off a bounce. I got it off the last bounce with my left foot.”

The Saints were held to shots mostly from outside the box that Brewer handled, but St. Dom’s also got a few breaks that it couldn’t cash in on.  Kurt Johnson had a pair of shots, and Parker was stopped with a diving save from the left side.

“We just had problems beating the keeper one-on-one,” Erickson said. “So guess what we’re going to work on this week, finishing one-on-one. How many one-on-one’s did we have? At least four. That’s the difference right there.”

Both teams were worn down by the end of regulation and couldn’t muster much offense on either end in overtime.

“We both picked up our intensity in the second half,” Parker said. “When that happens it’s going to be harder to get into the net with your shots.”

kmills@sunjournal