SANTORA'S GOAL SPARKS SAINTS TO 16-5

ROUT OF PLATTSBURGH STATE

Mar. 29: Junior midfielder PJ Santora scored his first goal of the season only 20 seconds into regulation after winning the opening face-off, setting the tone for the No. 13 St. Lawrence University men’s lacrosse team in their evening showdown with North Country rival Plattsburgh State on Thursday. The Saints, led by junior Kevin Russell’s five goals and two assists, grabbed a 7-0 lead after the first quarter and never looked back, routing the Cardinals 16-5 in the team’s first away game of the season.

St. Lawrence continued their dominance over Plattsburgh State, as they are now 5-0 against the Cardinals since 2002 having outscored them 74-23 in the five contests. The win moved the Scarlet and Brown to 5-1 on the season, while Plattsburgh dropped to 5-2.

Santora’s goal sparked the Saints offensive unit, which matched its season-high for goals in a quarter with seven. Russell netted his first of the game at 4:03 with an assist going to senior Andy Centauro to put

St. Lawrence ahead 2-0. The duo then scored back-to-back goals at 8:44 (Centauro) and 6:15 (Russell) to continue to pour on the early offense against Plattsburgh goaltender Brian Csorny.

Junior Cory Yawger scored his first goal of the 2007 campaign with 3:30 remaining in the opening quarter, followed by sophomore Kyle Benton’s first of the season at 13:26 and first year student Will McKee’s 11th of the year with a mere 14 seconds remaining in the quarter to complete the scoring. The opening fifteen minutes was the best of the season for St. Lawrence, while the Cardinals failed to get anything going against the Saints defensive corps. Sophomore Tom Hollingsworth, who got his first start of the season, had little to worry about as the Scarlet and Brown out-shot Plattsburgh by a 15-0 margin in the first quarter.

With their team trailing by seven, Pete Quinn and Bryan Copius tried to pull the Cardinals back into the game by scoring consecutive goals to open the second quarter. After Russell scored his second of the game at 10:16 of the second to give the visitors an 8-2 advantage, Plattsburgh’s Jimmy Tenny completed the first half scoring with an unassisted goal at 11:06 to pull the home team back to within five goals at 8-3.

Though Kyle Norchi would get Plattsburgh back to within four only 55 seconds into the third quarter when he beat Hollingsworth, the Cardinals would get no closer thanks to seven straight St. Lawrence goals.

Junior Ben Prime scored at 7:40 of the third quarter to make it 9-4 in favor of the Saints, while Canton, NY native Brian Chamberlain scored a mere 10 seconds later to make it 10-4. Senior Brendan Lynch scored his only goal of the game with 4:08 left in the third quarter, and Russell completed the scoring for the third at 14:00 to put the Scarlet and Brown up 12-4.

Centauro, Yawger, and Russell would each add insurance goals to open the fourth quarter, giving

St. Lawrence their biggest lead of the contest at 15-4. After an unassisted goal by Pat Haertel made the score 15-5 with 5:58 to play in the game, McKee completed the scoring with his team-high 12th goal of the season, capping off another impressive outing by head coach Mike Mahoney’s team.

“I though we really played our game well tonight, and our defense deserves a lot of the credit,” said Coach Mahoney. “Being able to hold a team like Plattsburgh to only 18 shots shows that we controlled the ball and made good decisions throughout the game. Kevin (Russell) had a big day for us offensively, and we’ll need him to continue his success as we open the Liberty League schedule on Saturday.”

Hollingsworth picked up his first collegiate win thanks to a seven-save performance in 55:18 minutes of action, while junior Frank Maguire came in for the final 4:42. Meanwhile, Csorny took the loss despite making nine saves in only 30:00 minutes, while his replacement Billy Hughes made seven stops in the final two quarters.

St. Lawrence finished with a 49-18 shot advantage, and was an impressive 23-of-27 on clearing attempts.

The Saints will look to extend their current three-game winning streak when they welcome Vassar College to Canton, NY on Saturday, March 31 st to open the 2007 Liberty League season. The Scarlet and Brown will meet the Brewers at 1:00pm at North Country Field.

CROWLEY AND HANSEN PACE NO. 13 SAINTS

IN 15-5 VICTORY OVER LAKERS

Mar. 27: Senior Brian Crowley scored his first collegiate goal and had an outstanding defensive game, while junior Derek Hansen tallied three goals including two man-up tallies as the No. 13 St. Lawrence University men’s lacrosse team handled Oswego State 15-5 at North Country Field in Canton, NY on Tuesday evening.

The Saints improved to 4-1 on the season and 3-0 on their home turf, while Oswego State fell to 2-3.

Crowley opened the game’s scoring only 2:13 into the contest when he rifled a shot past Oswego State netminder Matt Pfister. The Acton, MA native’s goal set the tone for the game, and junior Ben Prime followed with a goal only 2:19 later to put the home team on top 2-0.

The Lakers, who had expected to play the game in Oswego, NY but couldn’t due to field conditions, scored their first goal with 7:13 remaining in the first quarter to cut their deficit to 2-1 and complete the scoring in the opening period. Mike Recor beat Saints goalie Justin Demuth on an unassisted tally to bring the Lakers back to within one.

The second quarter belonged to the Scarlet and Brown, though, as St. Lawrence built a 7-1 lead behind five consecutive goals. Last week’s Liberty League “Rookie of the Week” Will McKee scored his first goal of the contest only seven seconds into the period thanks to a face-off win by sophomore PJ Santora. Hansen followed with his first man-up goal of the game only 52 seconds later to extend the Saints cushion to 4-1.

After Canton, NY native Willie Lapinski made it 5-1 on a long shot through traffic, senior Brendan Lynch and McKee scored to make the score 7-1 with 6:30 remaining in the second period. Though Mike Brewster scored an unassisted goal at 2:49 for the Lakers, it was the Saints that carried a large 7-2 lead into the half.

The Saints defensive unit had a solid showing, as Crowley, fellow senior JJ Hearty and juniors Ben Buskey and Brian Chamberlain were outstanding in protecting Demuth and shutting down the Oswego State offense. They held Oswego to only nine shots in the first half, while their offense fired 27 attempts towards Pfister.

St. Lawrence opened the third quarter in style, netting the first two goals to extend their lead to 9-2. Sophomore Alex Slauson and senior Andy Centauro scored their only goals of the game at 13:25 and 11:12, respectively, to help build the lead to seven.

However, after rookie Trevor Scoon took two penalties at 8:51, Oswego State had their chance to perhaps get back into the game after a goal by Mike Strohm made the score 9-3. The Saints defensive core, playing man down for two minutes, buckled down and allowed only the one goal.

Hansen would then net his second man up goal of the game at 2:19 after Oswego’s Matt Ficarra was given a 30 second penalty for Illegal Procedure. After the Lakers got a goal from Mike Brewster, the Saints had one last chance to score before the end of the third quarter. Buskey intercepted a pass near midfield and sent a long pass ahead to McKee with the clock under five seconds. McKee made a quick, heads-up pass to junior Kevin Russell to Pfister’s right, and the Madison, CT native buried a shot over the goalie’s right shoulder as the buzzer sounded to end the quarter with the score 11-4 in favor of the Saints.

Though the Lakers scored the opening goal of the fourth (Steve Tronovitch), the final fifteen minutes also belonged to the Scarlet and Brown, as the rattled off four straight goals to end the game. Senior Nick Mastine, sophomore Peter Carroll, Hansen, and rookie CP Rahe all scored in the final quarter to give the Saints their fourth win of the season by the score of 15-5.

“It wasn’t pretty, but we’ll take it,” said Saints head coach Mike Mahoney. “I thought Brian ( Crowley) had a very solid game, and Justin (Demuth) made seven big saves in the second half to keep the momentum on our side. We still have potentially three games remaining this week, so we need to stay focused and energized.”

Demuth finished with ten saves and improved to 4-1 on the season, while Pfister made 12 stops and dropped to 2-3. The Saints held a 46-22 advantage in shots were 16-of-23 on face-offs, much in thanks to Santora who finished 16-of-21 with 12 ground balls.

The Saints have two more scheduled games remaining this week, as they will visit Plattsburgh State on Thursday for a night game at 7:30pm. They will then welcome Vassar College to Canton, NY on Saturday, March 31st for the 2007 Liberty League opener.