AUBURN — St. Dom’s boys lacrosse coach Jamie King was pleased after watching his team play a solid first quarter against 7-1 Morse on Wednesday.

The Saints led 2-1 and held a 12-10 shots advantage, along with a huge possession edge thanks to a 3-1 face-off advantage.

But, penalties caused St. Dom’s to play shorthanded too often, and Morse took advantage for an 11-5 Eastern B win.

The Shipbuilders improved to 8-1, with a key home contest slated for Friday against undefeated Maranacook/Winthrop (7-0), while St. Dom’s fell to 3-4 and has a week off before hosting Camden Hills on May 28.

“That was one of our best first periods all year, moving the ball around and sticking to our game plan,” said King. “The other quarters we ran away from it and began forcing passes. But, as a young team we can move the ball around well, and when we have the ball we are dangerous.”

“That is not my squad, the unsportsmanlike stuff that comes from frustration and getting the crap kicked out of you, and we did the same thing,” said Morse coach Jay Paulus after watching the teams combine on 18 penalties. “I hate playing a man down, and it is not the kind of season that we want to have. It comes down to us and Maranacook, and we have to play better than this. It was not fun to watch.”

Strong Saints start

Morse opened the scoring as Jake Reno gathered a pass from Alec Beveridge and buried a shot behind St. Dom’s goaltender Alex Michaud.

The Saints recovered quickly, with Kenton Ernst, set up by Matt Chasse, evening the game just 1:29 later, and 33 seconds after that Austin Roy scored his first of three goals for a 2-1 St. Dom’s lead.

Reno’s second goal, assisted by Dylan Crowell, tied the game with 6:22 left until halftime.

From there, the Saints began taking penalties. Crowell scored while the Shipbuilders were a man-up. Wesley McKenna made it a two-goal game, and after Roy drew the Saints to within a goal, Oliver Kruze scored off a Myles Day pass for a second man-up goal for Morse and a 5-3 halftime lead for the visitors.

“The first two quarters we were right with them, and then right near the end of the first half we took five straight penalties and with the numbers we have we can’t afford to be a man down. They picked the corners,” King said.

Morse came out firing in the third quarter. The Shipbuilders took the first 15 shots, with Michaud keeping the Saints alive with seven saves in the frame.

“Their goaltender kept them in it, and we gave them too many opportunities to stay in, and that is frustrating for me,” Paulus said.

“He is a top-notch goaltender, and he is running clears left and right,” said King of Michaud. “It could have gotten out of control, but he kept us in it and did a good job.”

Morse extended its lead as Perry Chase scored back-to-back goals, one with a man advantage, from similar spots, with Kruze earning his second and third assists.

“Every time I got the ball, they seemed to leave me open and the shot was there,” said Chase, who had three goals and two assists. “It was hard to keep momentum in this game with all the penalties. We stepped it up, and they were frustrated.”

Roy completed his hat trick to bring St. Dom’s to 7-4 late in the third quarter, but Beveridge answered to give the Shipbuilders an 8-4 lead heading to the fourth.

Beveridge added two more goals in the final frame, with Chase scoring again. Kruze picked up four assists.

Chasse (one goal, two assists) finished off the scoring for St. Dom’s with 40 seconds remaining.

King was impressed with Morse and feels the youth model the Shipbuilders use is one the Saints are attempting to adopt.

“They are very disciplined, with a strong attack,” the coach said. “They have a good youth program, where we don’t have that feeder program, something we are working on.”

Beveridge had three goals, an assist and game-high eight groundballs to power Morse. Crowell added on goal and an assist, while McKenna won nine of 13 face-offs after taking over the duties midway through the second quarter. Morse finished 4-for-9 with the man advantage, while St. Dom’s was 3-for-5.