No. 12 Saints Survive Whittier in Double Overtime, 7-6

by: 

Tara Freeman

Trevor Scoon '10 and the Saints' defense held Whittier to only six goals on Wednesday.

Mar. 10: The No. 12 St. Lawrence University men's lacrosse team overcame a three-goal deficit on Wednesday evening, and first-year student Mac Johnson scored his first collegiate goal in double overtime to help the Saints avoid Whittier College's upset bid in Whittier, CA.

St. Lawrence (2-0) controlled the game statistically, outshooting the Poets 50-26 and earning six more ground balls (37-31).  The Scarlet and Brown also won 14-of-18 face-offs and took fewer penalties and had fewer turnovers than Whittier.  However, a fantastic 22-save performance between the pipes by Whittier's Robert Bazlen kept the home team in the game throughout the contest.

"Whittier certainly gave every ounce of effort they had, and made the game every bit as close as the score indicated," said St. Lawrence head coach Mike Mahoney.  "Though our offense was struggling to finish, I was proud of the way our defense played.  They allowed us to be in position to come away with the win."

The two teams exchanged goals in the opening quarter, with Daniel McQuade giving Whittier a 1-0 lead at 7:42 before senior CP Rahe took a pass from sophomore Matt Pope and tied the score with 52 seconds left in the opening frame. 

Despite being heavily outshot, the Poets found themselves with a sound 4-1 lead midway through the second quarter.  Lee Oshnock scored back-to-back goals before Sam Russell gave the home team a three-goal tally lead with 9:24 to play in the opening half.  St. Lawrence sophomore Caldwell Rohrbach pulled the Saints to within two at 4-2 with 49 seconds left in the second quarter to cap the opening half's scoring.

The Saints, who hit five pipes throughout the contest, continued to pressure Bazlen during a back-and-forth second half.  Sophomore Peter Carpenter and McQuade exchanged goals before first-year student Cody Danforth capped the third quarter scoring with 38 seconds left to keep the Saints within a goal at 5-4 entering the fourth.

Sophomore Matt Pope and Rahe would score consecutive goals only 1:43 apart to give the Scarlet and Brown their first lead of the game at 6-5 with 10:49 to play.  Though the team did well to keep the Poets away from senior goalie Andrew Cochran, Whittier would manage to score the tying goal off of a turnover with 1:32 to play in the contest.  Christian Wright would set up the goal, finding Russell for the key score that sent the game to overtime knotted at 6-6.

The two teams played a scoreless overtime period which saw both teams have quality scoring tries with both goaltenders coming up big.  In the second overtime, Whittier had control of the ball in the Saints' zone, but turned it over which allowed the Scarlet and Brown to work in transition.  The ball eventually came to Mac Johnson, who beat Bazlen for his first goal with St. Lawrence with 55 seconds left in the session, allowing the visitors to celebrate a dramatic 7-6 victory.

Though Mac Johnson proved to be a key player in the game, his older brother Harry also delivered a great performance by winning 13-of-17 face-offs.

Bazlen closed with 22 saves in the loss, while Cochran made nine stops for St. Lawrence to improve to 2-0 on the young season. 

St. Lawrence will be in action for the last time during its spring trip on Saturday, March 13 when it faces Drew University at 1:00pm in San Diego, CA.