St. Dominic seniors shut down Pirates

WATERVILLE – St. Dominic captured its third Class C boys soccer state championship Saturday with a 3-0 victory over Piscataquis Community High School.

The Saints, under first year head coach Lee Hixon, finished their season at 17-1 thanks to the physical and determined play of their 14 seniors.

“This was the perfect way to go out,” said senior David Rosquete. “Coach told us at the beginning of the season he would get us here if we did what he said and worked hard.”

The Saints wasted little time getting on the scoreboard. St. Dominic senior captain Brian Langlais crossed the ball in front of the net to senior John Forestell. He quickly headed the ball a few feet away to Rosquete who headed the ball in for a 1-0 lead six minutes into the game.

The goal put the Pirates at a double disadvantage. On top of trailing by one, they lost starting goalie Josh Luellen. The sophomore goalkeeper, who earned two shutouts this postseason, dived into the elbow of teammate Ben Smith on the play and fractured his left cheekbone, PCHS coach Pete Nelson said on Sunday. Despite his requests to stay in the game, officials refused to allow him back on the field.

Junior Brandon Jones stepped into the net for the Pirates in his first postseason appearance and was quickly put to the test. Less than a minute later he robbed Forestell of a point-blank shot on goal.

With a couple of additional saves the Pirates were revitalized under the play of Jones, but they were quickly brought back down when the team’s second leading scorer, junior Harper Hoffman, re-aggravated an ankle sprain when he collided with a teammate.

“Any time you get serious injuries they get you down,” said Nelson. “You just have to try and look over those.”

With the Pirates reeling, the Saints took advantage and scored two more goals in the following 10 minutes. The first goal came as Jones was drawn out of the goal and senior Caleb Eulitt converted a Rosquete assist. Sophomore Patrick Ouellette helped the Saints pad the lead as his corner kick from the right side of net set up sophomore Josh Dwinal on the left side for the third goal of the game.

“They just crashed the net so well when they had the ball,” said Nelson. “Especially in the first half, they were coming to the ball better than we were.”

The Saints suffered their own loss with five minutes remaining in the half when Ouellette went down with an ankle injury. An evenly fought second half saw neither team score, but did see one last injury as PCHS senior Kyle Jennings made a sudden stop and dislocated his right hip. Later X-rays showed he tore his hip flexor, which took a piece of the bone with it, Nelson said.

Despite the injuries, the Pirates battled hard against the Saints. The difference was the physical level of play, with St. Dominic notching most of the game’s slide tackles.

“They were much more aggressive than us,” said junior Jon Prescott. “That’s it. That’s the whole game.”

The Pirates finished at 11-4-3.

Michael Fournier stopped seven of 14 shots for the Saints in the shutout victory. Jones stopped eight of the 13 shots he faced while in goal for PCHS.

“The West just seems to have a more physical approach to the game,” said St. Dominic senior Dan Rosquete. “We knew it was do or die. I think the game could have been a lot different though if they had got the first goal. Them losing their goalie was unfortunate, but it was big for us.”

“I haven’t seen a team that could bring it down and cross the ball to the goal that well,” said Dan Rosquete. “If there had been more time they could have come back. That [Prescott] kid did a great job for them moving the ball and crossing it.”

The Saints claimed their third Class C championship and the victory marked the 15th consecutive victory for Western Maine since 1987. Coincidentally, the Saints began the streak.

The Pirates, who fell in the state championship for the second consecutive year, were still proud.

“It’s a very big accomplishment to get this far,” said senior Kyle Pulkkinen. “I just wish we could have got it this year.”