Saints Earn 1-1 Tie with Nationally-Ranked Herons

Oct. 9: The St. Lawrence University women's soccer team nearly pulled off a major upset on Friday afternoon, as the Saints held a 1-0 lead over nationally-ranked No. 4 William Smith for nearly 50 minutes of action.  Though the Herons would net the equalizer in the 78^th minute, the Scarlet and Brown were able to leave Geneva, NY with an impressive 1-1 tie.

Heading into Friday's game, William Smith had outscored St. Lawrence 12-0 in the prior seven meetings, all of which were won by the Herons.  However, the Saints showed that they have the capability to play with any team in the country by traveling to William Smith and nearly pulling out a win against the top-ranked team in the Liberty League.

"The team played with a lot of heart and intensity today and it showed," said St. Lawrence head coach Franco Bari.  "William Smith has an incredible offense and I was very proud of how well we defended."

The Saints were able to capitalize on a counterattack midway through the opening half to take a 1-0 lead.  Sophomore Elena Rogers took a long outlet pass in the Heron zone, beat a defender, and beat a diving Amanda Davis for a goal, the first scored against William Smith in Liberty League play this season.  Rogers' first goal of the season came at 28:59 of the first half.

St. Lawrence finished the first half with a slight 4-2 advantage on shots, though the Herons had the only two corner kicks.  Sophomore goalie Abby van Geldern and Davis each made one save in the opening 45:00 minutes.

Trailing 1-0, William Smith's potent offense went to work and began putting pressure on van Geldern and the St. Lawrence defense.  The Herons earned three corners in the second half and outshot the visitors 11-9 and eventually earned the tying goal with only 12:09 remaining in regulation.  BreLynn Nasypany sent a lead pass up the field and when van Geldern was unable to come up with the ball, Kate Redmond was there to finish the play for William Smith from six yards out to send the game to overtime.

Each team had their respective chances in the overtime sessions, as both St. Lawrence and William Smith had one corner kick in overtime.  However, the Herons managed the only three shots, two of which van Geldern was forced to stop.  Her nine saves between the posts proved to be key to helping the Saints earn a point in the conference standings.

St. Lawrence will be in action again tomorrow when they square off with Hamilton College in Clinton, NY.  Game time is set for 2:00pm.