CROWLEY AND HEARTY ANCHOR NO. 6 SAINTS

IN 10-3 WIN OVER CLARKSON

April 25: Senior defensemen Brian Crowley and JJ Hearty were given the daunting task of trying to stop the Liberty League’s top scorer, Greg Gibbons of Clarkson on Wednesday afternoon as the Saints met their North Country rivals in Potsdam , NY in a conference game with major playoff implications. The defensive duo were outstanding, though, holding Gibbons to only two shots and zero points as the No. 6 Saints led from wire-to-wire and defeated the Golden Knights 10-3 to lock up one of the top-two spots in the Liberty League standings, guaranteeing the Scarlet and Brown at least one home game in the conference tournament.

The opening minutes of the contest gave both goalies a chance to shine, as both St. Lawrence’s Justin Demuth and Clarkson’s Eric Wolery looked sharp in the early going with a few impressive stops each. However, it was the St. Lawrence defense that was over-powering in front of Demuth, as Hearty and Crowley joined junior Ben Buskey in delivering several big hits to set the tone in front of their net.

With their defense having made several key plays in the opening minutes, the Saints offensive corps gave the visitors a 1-0 cushion at 8:20 of the first quarter. Sophomore attack Peter Carroll made a great, heads-up pass from behind the net to fellow classmate Kyle Benton, who beat Wolery for his sixth goal of the season.

Senior Brendan Lynch joined the scoring only 51 seconds later to put St. Lawrence ahead 2-0 with his first goal of the day. Sophomore Alex Slauson beat a defender and sent a shot towards goal. Though his bid hit the right post, the ball bounced right back in front of the goal to a wide open Lynch, who converted for his 19 th goal of the season to complete the first quarter scoring.

Clarkson came out of the gate well in the second quarter, but Demuth made an outstanding save on Jon Cathcart while playing man-down to keep the Green and Gold off the scoreboard. Demuth’s effort allowed his offense to make a play in transition, as junior Kevin Russell sent a long, cross-field pass to Slauson, who buried his first goal of the day for the 3-0 advantage.

Though the Golden Knights were unable to convert on four man-up chances in the first half, they cut the deficit to two goals when Cory Schneider scored an unassisted goal at 6:19 of the second quarter to make the score 3-1. However, Lynch responded in a big way, scoring his second of the game on a man-up opportunity with 3:49 to play in the quarter to put St. Lawrence back on top by three, 4-1.

With the Saints swarming defense continuing to frustrate the Knights, the visitors had one last chance to tack one on before the end of the half. Slauson’s speed earned him a one-on-one with Wolery with under ten seconds to play, but the goaltender stood his ground with an impressive stick save to keep Clarkson in the game trailing 4-1 at the half.

Clarkson’s hopes of establishing control in the second half were dashed early when Slauson and junior Ben Prime scored goals only 21 seconds apart in the opening two minutes of the third quarter to put St. Lawrence ahead 6-1. After Slauson scored his second of the game, one minute into the quarter, a loose ball came to Crowley in the Saints zone. The Acton, MA native ran the length of the field before sending a crisp pass to Prime who eluded a defender a ripped a shot past Wolery for the 6-1 lead.

Brian Hoey tried to keep the home team in the game with his first goal of the afternoon coming with 7:12 remaining in the third. He beat a St. Lawrence defender behind the goal and came around the cage to Demuth’s left where he buried the shot to cut into the Saints lead, 6-2.

However, the goal only seemed to motivate the Saints defensive unit even more, as they caused key turnovers and made impressive plays on ground balls to keep the tempo and the momentum on their side. Lynch would score his third of the game with 4:00 left in the third to give the Scarlet and Brown a 7-2 lead heading to the final fifteen minutes.

It was again the Saints that tacked on two early goals in the fourth to put the game out of reach and solidify their ninth consecutive victory. Carroll scored only 27 seconds in to stretch the lead to 8-2, while rookie Will McKee scored only 42 seconds later on a shot that squeezed just under the crossbar to put the Saints on top 9-2.

Carroll would put the finishing touches on a thorough victory with his second goal of the game with 4:08 to play after taking a pass from Russell. Though Hoey would tack on a late goal for Clarkson on sophomore goaltender Tom Hollingsworth, it was the Saints that left Potsdam , NY with an important conference win to lock up a home game in the 2007 Liberty League Tournament.

“We’ve had a pretty solid year defensively, and I think Sunday’s game against Union served as a wake-up call,” said Saints head coach Mike Mahoney. “I was very pleased with our physical presence today, and it was certainly one of our finest performances of the season.”

The win moved the Saints to 11-1 on the season and a perfect 5-0 record in conference. The victory also sets up a dramatic showdown with Skidmore College on Saturday, as the winner will ensure themselves of the No. 1 seed in the Liberty League Tournament May 4-6.

“We’re coming off of one heck of a road stretch (at RPI, at Union, at Clarkson) unscathed with a chance to win the league on Saturday,” added Mahoney. “It’s exciting to return home to play on ‘Senior Day’, and hopefully we can carry our momentum over against Skidmore.”

St. Lawrence finished with a 34-23 advantage in shots and kept Clarkson from scoring a man-up goal despite allowing their opponents to have six chances. Demuth was the victor, allowing two goals and making eight saves, while Wolery made 14 stops in a losing effort.

Saturday afternoon’s game for the Liberty League’s regular season crown between the conference-unbeaten Saints and Thoroughbreds is set to begin at 2:00pm at North Country Field.

SAINTS CLIMB TO NO. 6 IN THIS

WEEK'S USILA POLL

Apr. 24: The St. Lawrence University men's lacrosse team landed the program's highest ranking since the creation of Division III polls this week, as the Scarlet and Brown came in at No. 6 in this week's USILA Men's Lacrosse poll. The Saints jumped four spots from last week's No. 10 ranking after a 15-12 victory over Union College to improve to 10-1 on the season.

Salisbury retained their unanimous stranglehold on the No. 1 spot, boasting an 18-0 record. Gettysburg is at No. 2, followed by Western New England, Wesleyan, and Ithaca at spots three through five. After St. Lawrence, Nazareth College, RIT, Tufts, and Hampden-Sydney rounded out this week's top-10.

Though the Saints are the only Liberty League team in the national rankings, they have a pair of teams on the docket this week that are looking to crack their way into the top-20 before the end of the regular season.

St. Lawrence will look to remain unbeaten in conference play and lock up a home game in the 2007 Liberty League Tournament when they visit the Clarkson Golden Knights on Wednesday afternoon. The game, which was originally scheduled for April 18th, was pushed back due to weather. The Scarlet and Brown will meet Clarkson at 4:00pm in a rematch of last year's Liberty League semifinals.

The Saints will then close out their regular season schedule on Saturday, April 28th against Skidmore College at North Country Field. The Thoroughbreds are currently tied with St. Lawrence for first place in the conference, and Saturday's game may very well be for the regular season championship. Game time is set for 2:00pm, as the Saints honor their ten seniors on "Senior Day."

RUSSELL AND CENTAURO NOTCH FIVE POINTS

EACH IN 15-12 WIN OVER UNION

Apr. 22: Junior attack Kevin Russell and senior midfielder Andy Centauro netted three goals a piece and each collected a pair of assists for five points on Sunday, as the No. 10 St. Lawrence University men’s lacrosse team held off Matthew Douglas and Union College by the score of 15-12 in Schenectady, NY.

The Saints (10-1, 4-0) remained undefeated in Liberty League play, and can wrap up one of the top-two seeds in the conference tournament with a win at Clarkson on Wednesday. The loss dropped the Dutchmen to 4-8 overall and 1-4 in conference.

Union opened the scoring in the eighth minute when freshman Scott Garibaldi recorded the team’s first man-down goal of the season when he fired a shot past St. Lawrence sophomore goalie Tom Hollingsworth.

However, the Scarlet and Brown responded with five consecutive tallies, starting less than a minute later to grab the largest lead of the day. Junior Derek Hansen scored St. Lawrence’s first goal when he snagged a rebound in mid-air and sent his shot past Union’s netminder Rob Oram as the net toppled over.

Centauro followed with his first of three goals on the day before fellow senior Willie Lapinski scored with 3:32 remaining in the opening frame. Junior attack Ben Prime stretched the Saints lead to 4-1 with his first of two goals to close the opening quarter.

Senior Brendan Lynch would slip a shot between Oram and the near post to open the second quarter scoring only 1:37 in, but Union’s leading scorer Chris Collison converted a pass from behind the net by Tom Simmons to end the Saints streak with 11:44 to go in the first half.

After rookie Will McKee gave St. Lawrence a 6-2 lead midway through the second, Union began to swing the momentum in their favor, rattling off three straight goals to close the quarter and end the half trailing by one, 6-5. The Dutchmen received goals from Douglas, Collison, and Jon Miller to stay well within striking distance heading into the second half.

Douglas continued to shine in the third quarter, scoring his second of five goals at 4:47 to tie the score at 6-6. The goal, however, seemed to motivate St. Lawrence, who quickly responded with three goals in a span of 1:27 to gain a 9-6 advantage. Russell beat Oram with a low shot before Prime netted his second of the game. Russell would then collect his second goal of the quarter with an assist going to Centauro with 8:19 to go in the third.

The scoring in the third continued in streaks, as Union answered with a pair of goals to once again cut the lead to one at 9-8. The visitors quickly responded yet again with goals from sophomore Kyle Benton and Lynch to regain their three-goal cushion at 11-8. Union’s Garibaldi and Russell exchanged goals to end the quarter with the score at 12-9 in favor of St. Lawrence.

Douglas kicked off the fourth quarter scoring in style, netting back-to-back goals on Hollingsworth to once again cut the deficit to one goal with 3:27 to play. However, Centauro and Slauson answered with quick, consecutive goals to regain the three goal edge at 14-11 with 1:59 left on the clock.

Though Douglas would give Union a flicker of hope with his fifth goal of the game 20 seconds later with 1:39 to go, Centauro sealed the win with his third goal of the contest, firing a shot into a wide open goal with 39 seconds left in regulation.

St. Lawrence out-shot Union 62-32, with 36 shots hitting the cage. Oram kept the Dutchmen in the game with a season-best 21 save performance including nine saves in the first quarter. Though Hollingsworth didn’t face the number of shots as his counterpart, he made six clutch saves in the third quarter to allow the Saints to retain the upper-hand.

The Scarlet and Brown clinched a playoff birth into the Liberty League Tournament with Sunday’s victory, and will look to defend their title from last season against Skidmore, Clarkson, and Rensselaer who have also earned conference tournament bids. The Saints can lock up a home-game in the 2007 tournament with a win over Clarkson in Potsdam, NY on Wednesday, April 25th. The contest between the North Country rivals is scheduled to begin at 4:00pm. St. Lawrence will then play host to Skidmore College on Senior Day, April 28th, in a game that could have major playoff implications.