Laird Scores Winner as Saints Triumph 4-2 at Houghton

by: 

Tara Freeman

Brendan Gorman scored his ninth and tenth goals of the year at Houghton

Freshman Alex Laird had a quick and crowd-silencing answer to Houghton College's second-half tying goal as he scored his first collegiate game-winner, spoiling Houghton's Homecoming game and sending the Saints on their way to a 4-2 win on Saturday.

"It was a wild one," said Saint coach Bob Durocher. "There was an overflow crowd...it was like an NCAA quarterfinal game in terms of atmosphere. They came out really hard and we should have been down a couple in the first few minutes, but then we should have had three before the half."

The Saints, now 7-2 on the season, did grab a 2-0 lead in the first half as Brendan Gorman scored his ninth and tenth of the year. The first came off a set-up by James Stewart at the 9:40 mark and the second came at the 33:50 mark.

The Saints surrendered a goal with under a minute to go in the half as Dan Brubaker chipped the ball ahead and sent Steve Grudda in on a breakaway at the 44:08 mark and Houghton tied it 8:40 into the second half when Grudda scored his second of the game.

"We gave up that late first half goal...which seems to be a habit this season, and then they came out hard in the second half and tied it. Fortunately we had a quick answer off a set play and that quieted the crowd down," said Durocher.

Laird scored his third of the year off a long throw-in by Stewart just 1:23 after the tying goal by Houghton to put the Saints back on top and Dan Marvin took a feed from Joey Mattina and beat Houghton goalie Steve Zacchigna at 75:06 to complete the scoring.

The Saints, now 7-2,  jumped out to a 2-0 lead as Brendan Gorman scored his ninth and tenth goals of the year, the first from James Stewart 9:40 into the game and the second at the 33:50 mark.

Brian Abernethy made four saves for the win for the Saints while Steve Zacchigna had two saves for Houghton. The two teams were even in shots at 17-17 with the Saints holding a 5-3 edge in corner kicks. Houghton had a 12-9 edge in shots and a 3-1 advantage in corner kicks in the first half, but the Saints came out on top in shots 8-5 and corner kicks 4-0 in the second half.

The Saints will host Hobart and Hamilton in a key Liberty League home series at Sandy MacAllaster Field Oct. 9-10.