Saints Open 2011 Season on Saturday against No. 8 Fords
by:
Tara FreemanCaptain Caldwell Rohrbach '12 led the Saints in scoring with 32 points last season.
Mar. 3: The St. Lawrence University men's lacrosse team will open the 2011 season on Saturday against No. 8 Haverford College in Cortland, NY. The nationally-ranked Fords enter the game with a 2-1 record and present the Scarlet and Brown with a challenging opponent to begin the campaign.
Starting the season against a ranked opponent is nothing new for St. Lawrence, as Saturday's showdown is the third consecutive meeting between the Saints and Fords to open the season. Haverford won 9-8 in overtime in 2009, while the Saints answered in 2010 with an 8-6 victory.
"We're looking forward to getting the season underway against a talented and experienced Haverford squad," said St. Lawrence University head coach Mike Mahoney, who enters this season as the 10th active winningest coach in Division III with a career record of 140-58. "We know we have our work cut out for us, but we expect our non-conference games will put us in position to peak come conference play."
The Saints will face a rigorous schedule, including the No. 8 Fords, No. 10 Rensselaer, No. 13 Geneseo State as well as current vote-getters Ithaca, Western New England, Nazareth and Union.
Leading the way is junior All-Conference honoree Caldwell Rohrbach, who led the team in scoring with 32 points last year. The Seattle, WA native will be joined at attack by returners Kyle Jacobsen and Mac Johnson. Other attackmen looking to contribute this season include Cody Danforth and Dave Hovey along with newcomers Zach Sloan and Marc Perroni.
St. Lawrence will also look to the midfield for offensive production this season. Veteran returners include Matt Pope, Dave Schoettler and Peter Carpenter, who combined for 37 points a year ago. Justin Ingram and Tucker Garfield join first-year students Taylor Gerhardt, Alonzo Holcombe, Pierson Fowler, Alden Frelinghuysen and Connor Behun as other offensive middies to watch for in 2011.
"With more experience at the offensive end, we expect this unit to be productive throughout the year," said Coach Mahoney. "We are excited about the depth of this group both at the attack and in the midfield."
St. Lawrence graduated three key players on the defensive end, including All-American Trevor Scoon, Greg Sperrazza and John Manning. Coach Mahoney will look to captain Matt Parker to help fill the void at defense, along with long-stick middie Jake Wynn and defensive middie captain Stephen Vaughan. Other key defensemen to the Saints' success include long-sticks Alex Preston, Brian Wilber, Greg Reagan and Craig Leach. Meanwhile, Cam Scullen, Eric Newman, Oliver Dennis and Mick MacLaverty will look to be valuable assets as defensive middies.
Newcomers who may have an immediate impact on the Saints' defensive corps include long-sticks Josh Robinson, Nick Ryugo, Sam Marvin and Gavin Woolard. Finally, the team will welcome senior Chris Palmer back to the line-up this spring after the Portsmouth, RI native was forced to miss the 2010 season due to injury.
St. Lawrence will start a new goaltender between the pipes for the third consecutive season in 2011 after Andrew Cochran graduated last spring. Sophomore Jeff Goeke returns with quality experience from his rookie campaign, and will compete for playing time with Jack Nuland, Matt Ruscio and sophomore newcomer James Fuller.
"Despite the loss of several significant defensive performers, we feel confident that the nucleus is in place for a dynamic and consistent unit throughout the season," added Coach Mahoney.
Finally, St. Lawrence will look to control possession with sound play at the face-off position. Senior Harry Johnson was the primary face-off specialist in 2010, and he returns alongside junior Steve Cargill and first-year Jake Davis.
St. Lawrence will take on No. 8 Haverford at the SUNY Cortland Stadium Complex on Saturday, March 5 at 4:00pm.