Saints, Plattsburgh Slog To 1-1 Overtime Tie

by: 

Wally Johnson

Nate Goss-Wolinger makes one of his nine saves in Wednesday's tie

Plattsburgh's Pat Shaughnessy scored on a breakaway 13 minutes into the second half to tie the game as St. Lawrence University and Plattsburgh played to a 1-1 double overtime tie in a soggy NCAA Division III men's soccer game on Sandy MacAllaster Field Wednesday afternoon.

St. Lawrence freshman Sam DeMello scored his sixth goal of the season off a direct kick 13:16 into the game to give the Saints an early lead. The Saint goal came after a foul just outside the 18-yard box and after three other Saint attackers stepped over the ball, DeMello blasted a hard shot to the lower left had corner for the unassisted goal.

Shaughnessy took advantage of the Saint defense and split two defenders after the ball was headed up the field and went in alone on Saint goalie Nate Goss-Woliner, sending a shot to the far post for his seventh of the year to knot the game at the 58 minute mark.

Both teams had some great scoring opportunities in regulation despite a slippery surface which made footing difficult and created some hard to predict results when the ball was kicked.

DeMello and Joey Mattina each had great scoring chances in the second half which either went just high or were saved by Plattsburgh goalie Andy Heighington.

The Saints, who snapped a four-game losing streak and will take a 7-6-1 record into their final game of the 2009 season at Clarkson on Saturday, had a chance to win it in the first overtime, but Brendan Gorman's shot hit the inside of the post and bounced away.

Goss-Woliner finished with nine saves for the Saints while Heighington had seven saves for the Cardinals.

SLU outshot Plattsburgh, now 12-2-4, 28-21 overall, but the Cardinals had ten shots on goal to eight for the Saints. Each team had three corner kicks in the game which was played in a steady rain.