SANTORA AND McKEE HONORED BY THE LEAGUE;

CLARKSON GAME RESCHEDULED

Apr. 16: St. Lawrence University sophomore PJ Santora and first year student Will McKee were honored by the Liberty League on Monday afternoon. Santora was named the conference's "Co-Offensive Performer of the Week," while McKee earned "Co-Rookie of the Week" honors for the second time this season.

Santora had an outstanding day in the face-off circle against Rensselaer in the Saints 8-7 win on Saturday. The Cos Cob, CT native won 16-of-18 draws and scooped up 10 ground balls, continuing to be one of the top face-off players in the nation.

Meanwhile, McKee scored a late, man-up goal for St. Lawrence against RPI in their win on Saturday. The goal gave the Saints a 7-5 lead at the end of the third quarter. The Old Greenwich, CT native also added three ground balls.

Also, the Scarlet and Brown will have to wait until Wednesday, April 25th to square off with their North Country rival Clarkson University. Due to the recent winter weather, the game has been rescheduled from this Wednesday, April 18th to next Wednesday. The teams still intend to play in Potsdam, NY with the game time remaining at 4:00pm.

St. Lawrence is scheduled to be in action before their meeting with Clarkson, however, as they will visit Union College on Sunday, April 22nd. The Saints and Dutchmen are scheduled to begin at 1:00pm

LYNCH AND RUSSELL LEAD SAINTS IN

COME-FROM-BEHIND VICTORY OVER RPI

Apr. 14: The No. 10 St. Lawrence University men’s lacrosse team used a five-goal third quarter to storm back from a 4-2 halftime deficit and earn an important Liberty League victory over Rensselaer on Saturday afternoon in Troy, NY by the score of 8-7. The Saints (9-1, 3-0) remained one of three teams with unblemished conference records thanks to senior Brendan Lynch and junior Kevin Russell, who each had three-point afternoons.

The first half belonged to the home team, as Rensselaer, who was undefeated until Tuesday when they were beaten by Middlebury, grabbed a two-goal lead after 15 minutes. Josh Secora opened the game’s scoring for the Red Hawks, as he scored an unassisted goal against Saints senior goalie Justin Demuth 4:47 into the contest.

Though junior Ben Prime would answer with his 12th goal of the season less than two minutes later to even the score at 1-1, Rensselaer would rattle off a pair of goals to end the quarter with a 3-1 cushion. PJ McComb scored at 11:42, followed by Mike Sampson’s first of the game with only six seconds remaining in the quarter to give the Red Hawks plenty of momentum heading into the second quarter.

St. Lawrence would begin to pour the offensive pressure on in the second quarter, as the visitors out-shot their hosts 15-2 in the frame. However, the scoring was even in the period as Paul Cerone and sophomore Peter Carroll exchanged goals to complete the first half scoring with Rensselaer boasting a 4-2 lead.

Red Hawk netminder Ryan Michels was the difference in the opening half, stopping ten shots including eight in the second quarter to keep the Saints potent offense from erupting. Demuth made two saves for the Saints, who trailed at the half for the first time all season.

After Rensselaer made it 5-2 on Cerone’s second goal of the afternoon 2:31 into the third quarter, the Saints began their offensive charge and pulled themselves back into the game. Junior Cory Yawger got things started for the Scarlet and Brown, scoring his fourth goal of the season (unassisted) at 3:29, followed by Lynch’s first of the game at 8:16 to pull St. Lawrence back to within one at 5-4.

Sophomore PJ Santora had an outstanding game in the face-off circle as he won 16-of-18 draws. His play gave the Saints several timely possessions, and allowed them to build a 7-5 lead after three quarters. Junior Mike Long evened the score with 4:54 remaining in the third thanks to an assist from Russell. Sophomore Alex Slauson continued his impressive play with his 12th goal of the campaign at 11:31 to give the visitors their first lead of the afternoon, while first year student Will McKee completed the scoring in the quarter with a man-up goal with a mere 1:43 remaining. Russell assisted on McKee’s lone goal of the game, which put the 10th ranked team in the country ahead 7-5.

Lynch would complete St. Lawrence’s scoring on the afternoon only 1:03 into the fourth quarter when he notched his 16th goal of the year to give his team a three-goal advantage.

However, McComb kept Rensselaer in the game with his second goal of the afternoon at 4:54 and assisting on Sampson’s second of the game on a man-up opportunity late in the fourth quarter to pull the Red Hawks back to within one goal at 8-7. Though the home team would have an excellent chance to even the score after Slauson took a 30 second pushing penalty with only one minute left in regulation, the St. Lawrence defense and Demuth held their ground, turning Rensselaer away and capturing a conference victory that could have major playoff implications.

“I’m really proud of the way our team hung in there today and came back to beat a tough Rensselaer team,” said Saints head coach Mike Mahoney. “We were able to make the plays in the second half to dig out of the 5-2 hole, and with three more crucial conference games left, it’s good to get a win like this one.”

Demuth finished with seven saves in the game to earn the win, while Michels took the loss despite stopping fifteen St. Lawrence shots. The Scarlet and Brown finished with the edge in shots (45-25), ground balls (48-40), and face-offs (16-of-18).

The Saints will be in action again this Wednesday, April 18th as they travel down Route 11 to visit their North Country rival the Clarkson Golden Knights. St. Lawrence and Clarkson, who each enter the game with perfect Liberty League records, will meet in Potsdam, NY at 4:00pm.

SLAUSON AND LYNCH NET HAT TRICKS AGAINST

HAMILTON IN 9-2 WIN

Apr. 7: The No. 12 St. Lawrence University men’s lacrosse team pulled out a hard-earned win against Liberty League foe Hamilton College on Saturday afternoon, leaning on their defensive unit to keep the Continentals’ offense quiet. The Saints got three goals a piece from junior Brendan Lynch and sophomore Alex Slauson on their way to a 9-2 victory, while the quartet of JJ Hearty, Brian Crowley, Ben Buskey, and Carl Festa were outstanding in protecting senior goalie Justin Demuth.

The win moves the Saints to 8-1 overall and 2-0 in conference play, while Hamilton falls to 2-7 and 0-2.

St. Lawrence wasted little time in taking the lead 1-0 only 38 seconds into regulation when junior Kevin Russell lifted a pass to sophomore Peter Carroll who had beaten the Hamilton defense and was on a breakaway against the Continentals’ netminder Ethan Shoemaker. The goalie was helpless as Carroll scored his eighth of the season to give the home team an early lead.

Hamilton’s Kevin Coughlin appeared to tie the game at 2:01 when he made a slick move to beat Demuth. However, the officials checked his stick and ruled it illegal, taking the goal off the scoreboard and sending Coughlin off for a 1:00 minute penalty.

Both defenses did an excellent job throughout the rest of the quarter in protecting their goalkeeper, especially St. Lawrence who did not allow a shot on goal the entire fifteen minutes and keeping Hamilton’s attackers around the perimeter. Lynch would score the only other goal of the quarter at 8:34 as he beat a defender and ripped a hard shot while running to his left that slipped past Shoemaker for the 2-0 St. Lawrence lead.

The second quarter was much of the same, as both offenses met strong resistance from their opponents. Hamilton’s Karl Gruss and Nate Harris put consistent pressure on Russell and Lynch, while Crowley, Hearty, and Festa did well to keep the Continentals at bay.

Hamilton would strike first in the second, however, when Clark Winter made a strong move and sent a rope past Demuth at 4:12 to make the score 2-1. Unfortunately for the visitors, the goal would not create any momentum as the Scarlet and Brown ran off the final two goals of the quarter to enter halftime with a 4-1 cushion. Senior Nick Mastine scored his lone goal of the afternoon with 6:07 remaining in the half, followed by Lynch’s second of the day only 49 seconds later on a fantastic pass from junior Ben Prime to close the first half scoring.

Through thirty minutes, the Saints held the edge in shots (20-8), ground balls (20-7), and face-offs (6-of-7), but found themselves ahead by only three goals thanks to Shoemaker, who stopped five saves in the first half while Demuth stopped one Hamilton shot. St. Lawrence’s four goals was the lowest scored by the team in the opening half this season.

The third quarter scoring was opened by Winter again for the Continentals, making the score 4-2 and giving the visitors some life in a close, two-goal contest. Winter’s second of the game came at 5:02 of the third.

From there on out, however, the game belonged to the Saints, reeling off five straight goals to end the game and walk away with a 9-2 win. Slauson would score his first of the game at a crucial time, crushing Hamilton’s momentum at 10:06 when he made a nice move to his right and ripped a shot low-left past Shoemaker. The goal re-established the Saints three goal lead, while Carroll’s second of the game with 1:01 remaining in the quarter gave St. Lawrence their biggest lead of the contest at 6-2 to end the period.

Though Hamilton would pressure Demuth in the fourth quarter, the Jordan, NY native held his ground and his defense picked up groundballs to not allow second-chance opportunities. Slauson’s second of the game opened the fourth quarter scoring with 8:41 remaining in the game to put St. Lawrence ahead 7-2. His hard shot from Shoemaker’s right side went over the goalie’s shoulder for his tenth of the season.

Lynch seemingly put the game away only 38 seconds later when he found a seam in the Hamilton defense and moved in one-on-one on Shoemaker. The Medfield, MA native slipped a shot between the goalie’s legs to make the score 8-2 and complete the hat trick. Slauson wasn’t far behind with his third of the contest, as he took a feed from Russell, ran through the center of the field and rifled a shot into the goal to complete the scoring and give the Saints an important 9-2 conference win.

“I don’t think the score reflected how close the game was today,” said head coach Mike Mahoney. “We worked hard for 60 minutes and came away with a win that we really needed as we head on the road for the next three weeks. Alex and Brendan scored some timely goals, but a lot of credit has to go to our defense, which did a great job protecting Justin (Demuth).”

The Saints finished with a 36-19 advantage in shots and a 36-11 edge in groundballs. Sophomore midfielder PJ Santora continued his success in the face-off circle, where he won 13-of-15 draws. Though there were eight penalties called in the game, neither the Saints nor Continentals were able to score a man-up goal. Shoemaker took the loss despite making 12 stops, while Demuth improved to 7-1 with a four-save performance.

St. Lawrence will have the week off before returning to action again next Saturday, April 14th in a marquee Liberty League game against currently-unbeaten Rensselaer (9-0) in Troy, NY. The Saints and Red Hawks are set to square off at noon in a game that could have major playoff implications.