FREEPORT

St. Dom’s had several ways to explain its slow start in Friday’s regular-season finale against Freeport.

The Saints had an easier explanation for rallying from a 6-1 deficit to beat the Falcons, 15-10.

Senior Caroline Gastonguay notched five goals, including the 200th of her career, and dished out four assists. She combined with Avery Lutryzkowski (four goals) and Mia Leslie (two goals) to finish the game with eight unanswered goals.

“We focused a little too much on the officials’ calls in the first half,” Gastonguay said. “At halftime, we came together and were, like, we need to snap out of it. We can only control what we can control.”

Taylor Rinaldi and Allison Greuel tallied three goals apiece for Freeport (8-4).

“I think St. Dom’s picked up their game and we did a little bit, but not enough,” Freeport coach Marcia Wood said. “There was a little bit of panic when they started scoring more goals. That momentum shift just wasn’t in our favor.”

Greuel gave the Falcons their 6-1 lead with the final score of a four-goal flurry in the span of 99 seconds.

They maintained the five-goal spread until Gastonguay’s milestone goal pulled the Saints (9-3) within 8-4 with 3:55 left in the first half.

“I was hoping (the slow start) wouldn’t happen,” St. Dom’s coach Leslie Klenk said. “This is our third game this week, and we had a game (Thursday) night, so I think we’re pretty tired and pretty beat up. Maybe that had something to do with it. It can’t happen again.”

Gastonguay’s milestone goal, combined with No. 201 coming just 20 seconds later, propelled the Saints on a four-goal run to end the half that made it 8-7 Falcons.

“(Gastonguay) was definitely off her game in the beginning, as well as most everyone on the team,” Klenk said. “It was kind of reminiscent of our Waynflete game on Tuesday (a 10-7 loss). I think once she got that, she settled down and played like she normally does, and everybody else follows.”

Freeport appeared to benefit from the halftime break, as back-to-back goals by Rinaldi made it 10-7. But her final goal with 21:24 remaining was the Falcons’ last goal.

“We started out on, again, kind of on fire,” Wood said, “and it was the same deal — they get a few down, go on a rally for a few goals, and you mentally get yourself out of it.”

After Lutrzykowski pulled St. Dom’s within a goal, Mia Leslie tied it with her second goal off of a nice timing pass from Gastonguay with 20:10 remaining.

“We practice that all of the time in practice, and I can rely on her to catch that. She’s a great player,” Gastonguay said.

It took nearly six more minutes, and Freeport having an apparent tie-breaking goal disallowed by a charging call, for the Saints to take their first lead. Gastonguay scored back-to-back goals to make it 12-10 with 13:46 left.

St. Dom’s slowed the game down considerably and controlled the ball after that, pulling away on two more Lutrzyzkowski goals and one by Gastonguay.

“It’s always hard to come back, but once you get ahead, you get a rhythm, and then you can play your game,” Klenk said. “I think once we were able to get even with them, we knew that we could dig in and play our game, which is very patient.”

Both teams will host Class C quarterfinal matches on or around June 8. The win may have been enough to vault the Saints into the No. 2 seed, but it at least clinched the third seed, while the Falcons were locked in at No. 4.