McKEE GIVES NO. 12 SAINTS A DRAMATIC

8-7 WIN IN REGULAR SEASON FINALE

April 26: Sophomore attackman Will McKee scored two goals only 1:22 apart in the fourth quarter, helping the No. 12 St. Lawrence University men’s lacrosse team foil Skidmore College’s upset bid with an 8-7

come-from-behind win in Saratoga Springs, NY. With the win, St. Lawrence finishes the Liberty League regular season with an unblemished record for the third straight year and will face Rensselaer in the conference tournament next Friday.

St. Lawrence will enter the 2008 Liberty League Tournament with a record of 9-2 (6-0) while Skidmore’s season comes to an end with a 7-7 (2-4) mark.

The Thoroughbreds held a 2-1 lead after the opening quarter thanks to goals by Tom Levesque and Nick Coppola. St. Lawrence’s only goal of the opening 15 minutes came on a man-up chance from sophomore Scott Smith, with an assist going to senior Kevin Russell.

The low scoring contest continued in the second quarter as both goaltenders, junior Thomas Hollingsworth for St. Lawrence and John Capitani for Skidmore, were sharp in the opening half with seven saves a piece.

Matt Levesque gave Skidmore a 3-1 lead at 6:41 of the second, while junior Alex Slauson brought the Saints back to within a goal at 3-2 to close the opening half.

St. Lawrence was able to build momentum on Slauson’s goal, as McKee and Russell opened the second half scoring to give the Scarlet and Brown their first lead of the afternoon at 4-3. Skidmore bounced right back, though, behind Tom and Matt Levesque, who each tallied a goal to put the home team back on top,

5-4.

McKee closed out the quarter’s scoring with his second of the game on a man-up chance with an assist going to junior Kyle Benton with only 58 seconds left in the third to knot the game at 5-5.

Matt Levesque scored his third goal of the afternoon only 23 seconds into the fourth quarter to give Skidmore the advantage, 6-5. After Russell responded with his second of the game to tie the game for the fifth time, Cory Barkoff put the Thoroughbreds in the driving seat again with only 6:53 remaining in the game ahead 7-6.

That would set the stage for McKee’s heroics, however, as the Old Greenwich, CT native circled the cage and sniped a shot past Capitani to level the score at 7-7 with 6:01 remaining. Only 1:22 later, McKee would celebrate the game-winning goal, his fourth of the game, after Skidmore turned the ball over on a too-many-men call. McKee’s 34 th goal of the season completed St. Lawrence’s rally and gave the visitors a

hard-earned 8-7 victory.

The win, which was St. Lawrence’s ninth straight, can be credited to a solid defensive effort. Hollingsworth closed with ten saves in the game, while seniors Ben Buskey and Brian Chamberlain scooped up four groundballs a piece. Junior midfielder PJ Santora also won 12-of-18 face-offs in the win.

“I give Skidmore a lot of credit for coming into today’s game prepared and looking to score an upset, but I’m proud of how we responded and battled to keep our winning streak in tact,” said Saints’ head coach Mike Mahoney. “We’ll now turn our focus to Rensselaer, who we went into overtime with the last time out, and try to win the Liberty League Tournament.”

The Saints, the top-seed in the field, will host the No. 4 Red Hawks in the Liberty League Semifinals on Friday, May 2 at 4:00pm on North Country Field.