St. Dominic players celebrate a goal at end of first half against Erskine during a Class C state semifinal game Wednesday in South China. Kennebec Journal photo by Joe Phelan

SOUTH CHINA — The Erskine girls lacrosse team showed major improvement against St. Dominic Academy in this year’s Class C state semifinal, but the end result was still the same.

No. 3 St. Dominic reached the Class C state final with an 11-8 victory Wednesday in a rematch of last season’s state semifinal. The Saints took that one, 15-2.

Erskine’s Joanna Linscott, left, watches her shot go into the net against St. Dominic in a Class C semifinal game on Wednesday in South China. Kennebec Journal photo by Joe Phelan

“It’s very exciting,” St. Dom’s attacker Avery Lutrzykowski said. “We were very excited (going to the state final) last year, but we’re even more excited this year. We want to go there and play our game.”

The Saints (9-5) will play Lake Region in the state championship Saturday at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland. The Eagles finished 10-4.

Down 6-1 midway through the first half, the Eagles continued to fight back, scoring two goals from Liz Sugg and one from Sarah Praul to make it a 7-4 game at the half.

“I knew they were going to come in ready to play, and it showed on the field,” Lutrzykowski said. “They had a very good game. We knew they were aggressive and we knew they were going to come ready to play.”

Erskine continued its strong play at the start of the second half, as Jordan Linscott ducked and weaved through multiple defenders down the field on both of her goals. Kassidy Wade also scored, and with just over 15 minutes left in the game, the Eagles trailed just 8-7.

But penalties ultimately hurt the Eagles. After racking up four penalty cards, Erskine was forced to play a large portion of the second half with a player down. Jordan Linscott and Tori Grasse both were forced out of the latter half of the contest after they picked up two penalty cards.

“It’s hard when you’ve got one of your best players on the bench and you can’t play her, and then you’re shorthanded,” Erskine coach Shara MacDonald said.

An elongated stoppage in play involving confusion over whether an Erskine player had been called onto the field from the penalty area also deflated Erskine.

St. Dom’s took advantage, as Lutrzykowski scored two goals, while Mia-Angelina Leslie added another for the final 11-8 score.

“(St. Dom’s) is a good team,” MacDonald said. “They handle the ball well. We knew coming into this that we needed to have a near-perfect game in order to do anything.”

Jordan Linscott, Joanna Linscott and Sugg each finished with two goals, while Praul and Wade each netted a goal.

St. Dominic players celebrate a goal at end of first half against Erskine during a Class C state semifinal game Wednesday in South China. Kennebec Journal photo by Joe Phelan

“If we look back on last year and where we were with this team, it’s leaps and bounds from last year,” MacDonald said. “They just played with total heart, total heart. If a couple of things go either way, who knows what would have happened. The difference between this year and last year was, (this year) they really thought they were going to win the game. That was a valiant effort on their part.”

Lutrzykowski, Leslie and Emma Theriault played strong games for the Saints. Leslie finished with four goals, while Theriault and Lutrzykowski each scored three.

The state final is rematch of last season’s game, which Lake Region won 19-9. Lutrzykowski said she has seen improvements from last year’s team.

“We pass really well, we cut off the ball,” Lutrzykowski said. “Our ride-back, trying to keep (the opponent) at a slower pace works really well this year.”