Trio of Saints Score Two in 11-7 Win Over Vassar
by:
Whit Haynes '10Sophomore Kyle Jacobsen scored two goals against Vassar on Friday.
Apr. 16: St. Lawrence University sophomores Kyle Jacobsen and Peter Carpenter and first-year student David Hovey each tallied two goals on Friday night and senior Greg Sperrazza had a game-high eight ground balls, leading the Saints' men's lacrosse team to an 11-7 win over Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY.
St. Lawrence (7-4, 2-2) also had goals from sophomore Matt Pope, seniors CP Rahe, John Manning and Scott Smith and first-year student Mac Johnson. Christopher Toffoli scored a game-high three goals for the Brewers, who fall to 3-8 (0-4) on the season.
The Scarlet and Brown finished with a 36-33 advantage in shots, including a 16-5 edge in the second quarter. The Saints also had more ground balls (39-36) and fewer turnovers (28-23). Senior Andrew Cochran earned the win in goal for the Saints with a seven-save performance, while first-year student Jeff Goeke made five stops in the second half to preserve the victory. Vassar's Alex Tice totaled 15 saves for the Brewers.
Vassar's Nick Cardillo opened the game's scoring only 47 seconds into the game for a 1-0 lead, but Smith tied the score only 1:29 later with his 12th goal of the season. The two tallies proved to be the only goals in a low-scoring quarter behind solid goaltending and turnovers for both teams.
The Saints, who were looking to bounce back off a tough loss to Clarkson on Wednesday, played a sound second quarter to open up a two-goal halftime lead. Manning and Vassar's Jack Gross exchanged goals in the first five minutes of the second before Carpenter scored consecutive goals at 8:10 and 10:52 to put the visitors on top 4-2. Johnson gave the Saints their largest lead of the first half with his 13th goal with 1:29 remaining, but was answered by Toffoli's first goal only 17 seconds later to make it a 5-3 game at halftime.
Tice kept the Brewers in the game in the second quarter by turning in eight big saves.
After Rahe gave the Saints their three-goal cushion back at 6-3 only 3:03 into the third quarter, Vassar used goals by Sam Seymour and Toffoli to pull back to within one at 6-5 with 4:36 left in the frame. Hovey and Pope would respond in style for St. Lawrence, though, scoring goals to extend the team's lead back to three at 8-5. Hovey's goal, which was assisted by sophomore Caldwell Rohrbach, came with 3:14 left in the quarter while Pope's goal came with 12 seconds remaining, shifting the momentum back into his team's favor.
Jacobsen's first goal of the game gave St. Lawrence a four-goal lead only 1:33 into the fourth quarter at 9-5. After Toffoli and Jacobsen traded goals to bring the score to 10-6, Seymour gave Vassar hope with an assisted goal to pull the Brewers to within three with 8:15 left in regulation. However, Hovey would end their comeback efforts with his second goal of the game at 12:49 of the fourth quarter, capping the game's scoring and allowing the Saints to leave town with an 11-7 victory.
Pope added a pair of assists for St. Lawrence, while Hovey also chipped in a helper. Junior Harry Johnson finished with an 8-of-16 mark on face-offs in the game for the visitors.
The Scarlet and Brown will face their toughest opponent of the season next week, when No. 4 Cortland State visits Canton, NY on Wednesday, April 21 at 4:00pm.