The first half was a back-and-forth affair, with the Cougars looking to move up the heal point standings and the Saints seeking their first win of the year. Up 7-5 at halftime, the Cougars shutout St. Dom’s in the second half for the 14-5 road victory.

“The first half we struggled as far as passing and catching,” Mt. Blue coach Kevin Averill said. “We had opportunities. When we did have opportunities, we did capitalize on them, but we left a lot more opportunities out there in the first half.”

In the second half, the Cougars cleaned up their mistakes, Averill said.

Joe Bowering and Liam Welch each scored five times in the victory. The Cougars outshot the Saints, 57-24.

“Liam is definitely the goal scorer from the (midfield) side,” Averill said. “From the attack (position), most of the goals have come from Reed Wells and Bowering. So, it wasn’t a surprise when they were getting the goals. They are strong. They definitely have some solid shots. It’s just a matter of getting them on cage and changing the plans to make it a tougher save for the goalie.”

Bowering opened the scoring up 3:32 into the game to give Mt. Blue (4-2) a 1-0 lead. The Saints responded as Reece Farrell scored twice in a 110-second span. Wells regained the lead for Mt. Blue with two goals of his own, while Bowering recorded his hat trick goal 10 minutes into the game.

“I was happy with my dodges,”Bowering said. “I thought I created a lot of isolation for myself. I didn’t do well passing and I want to improve my passing to my teammates. I thought that could have been better.”

Brendan Donovan scored for St. Dom’s (0-6) with a minute play into the first quarter, with Farrell setting up the goal. With two seconds remaining in the first quarter, Bowering scored his fourth goal of the game to give Mt. Blue a 5-3 lead.

Each team scored twice in the second quarter, with Welch notching his first goal  1:19 into the quarter as the Cougars doubled their lead. Farrell setup both of the Saints goals in the second frame. Hunter Emery put home the Saints’ fourth goal and Donovan scored his second. Welch notched his second of the quarter at the 5:42 mark.

“The message at halftime was to keep the momentum and keep the philosophy strong,” St. Dom’s coach Ralph Nelson said. “We had the effort. We had our good tendencies on offense and good tendencies on defense, just transition that to the second half. We got tired easily and we are light (on players) this year. All I ask is my boys to give their best efforts forward. That’s all I can ask for, but we all understand we were light going into the second half. We just got tired, we got tired.”

With the 7-5 lead, Mt. Blue scored twice in the first 80 seconds of the third quarter. The Saints called a time out after the second goal. Wells recorded a hat trick with the first goal and Cordell Ellis scored the second goal.

The Courgars scored four more times in the quarter. Welch added three goals and Colton Chandler found the score sheet. Bowering scored early in the fourth quarter for the Cougars’ 14th goal.

nfournier@sunjournal.com