No. 14 RPI Holds Off Saints 10-9 on “Senior Day”

Apr. 24: The St. Lawrence University men's lacrosse team scored two goals in span of 14 seconds to pull to within one of No. 14 Rensselaer on Saturday afternoon at North Country Field.  However, the Saints' were unable to get a shot off in the final seconds, allowing the Engineers to remain unbeaten in Liberty League play (5-0) and clinch a share of the 2010 regular season title behind a 10-9 victory.

St. Lawrence (7-5, 2-3), which honored the 10 members of the squad's "Class of 2010" prior to the game, must defeat Hamilton in the regular season finale next Saturday to remain in contention for a spot in the Liberty League Tournament.  Meanwhile, RPI will face Union in what may prove to be for the No. 1 seed in the conference tourney.

First-year student Mac Johnson and Rensselaer's Bryant Johnson each tallied three goals in the game, while St. Lawrence senior captain Scott Smith and classmate Adam Boghosian each scored two.  The Saints' defensive corps, anchored by senior captain Trevor Scoon, played well throughout the game, causing 14 turnovers.

"I thought we went toe-to-toe with a very solid and well-coached team today," said Saints' head coach Mike Mahoney.  "We hit a few posts and (James) Manchester had a good outing in net.  We're disappointed with the loss but know we have to regroup and be ready to play against Hamilton next Saturday."

Manchester out-dueled St. Lawrence goalie Jeff Goeke, making 14 saves to Goeke's eight in a battle of rookie netminders.  Though St. Lawrence finished with a 49-25 advantage in shots, many of those bids were taken away from the cage thanks to outstanding work by Rensselaer's defense.  The Saints won 12-of-21 face-offs and had five more ground balls than their opponent at well (33-28).

The home team held a 2-1 lead after the opening quarter thanks to unassisted goals by Boghosian and Mac Johnson.  However, Bryant Johnson's goal that capped the frame's scoring at 8:47 pulled RPI to within one and began an impressive six-goal run by the Engineers.  Paul Cerone tied the game with the opening goal of the second quarter, while Wes Rudy and Nick Billy followed to make it 4-2.  After Cerone made it a three-goal lead, Bryant Johnson capped the run with a man-up score with 2:27 left in the half for a 6-2 advantage.

Though Mac Johnson made it a 6-3 game with 1:51 left on the clock, the dramatics were provided by Smith.  The Manlius, NY native fired a last-second shot from approximately 50 feet away that deflected off of an RPI defenseman and past Manchester just as the horn blew to end the second quarter.  The Saints erupted on to the field towards the locker room as the officials met and determined the goal would stand, cutting Rensselaer's lead to two at 6-4.

The last-second goal clearly energized the Scarlet and Brown, who opened the third quarter with back-to-back goals by Boghosian and Smith to knot the score at 6-6.  Rensselaer's Max Blair would respond in style only 14 seconds after the tying goal.  After the Saints won the face-off, Blair knocked down a St. Lawrence defenseman, stole the ball and scored on Goeke for a 7-6 advantage.  Billy would follow only 1:37 later to cap the quarter's scoring and give the Engineers back a two-goal cushion at 8-6 with 15 minutes remaining.

After Bryant and Mac Johnson exchanged goals to bring the score to 9-7, Andrew Miller chipped in his only goal of the game with 4:43 remaining to put the visitors up three goals and seemingly in control.  However, senior CP Rahe blitzed a shot past Manchester at 12:30 and Scoon got his team to within a goal when he carried the ball the length of the field and scored only 14 seconds later to pull the Scarlet and Brown to within one at 10-9.

Needing a goal to force overtime, Coach Mahoney used two timeouts in the final 90 seconds of the game to try and get his team quality scoring tries.  With 22 seconds left, the Saints worked to get near Manchester's cage but were denied by RPI's defense.  Though sophomore Matt Pope backed down his defender, he was unable to get a last-second shot off before the horn blew and allowed the Engineers to escape with the one-goal win.

Saturday's game was the last at North Country Field for 10 St. Lawrence seniors including Scoon, Rahe, Smith, Boghosian, Greg Sperrazza, Nick Woodhull, John Manning, Teddy Barber, Andrew Cochran and Drew Osinski.  The Scarlet and Brown will complete the 2010 regular season on Saturday, May 1 in Clinton, NY in a must-win game for both teams at 1:00pm.