SAINTS EARN NCAA AUTOMATIC BID

WITH 2006 CONFERENCE TITLE

The St. Lawrence Saints celebrate their 2006 Liberty League Championship

victory over RPI on Sunday. (Tara Freeman photo)

 

May 7: It took nineteen years, but the St. Lawrence University Saints are headed back to the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Tournament. The No. 1 seed in the Liberty League Tournament held off a resilient Rensselaer team in the championship game by the score of 12-9, earning the conference's automatic bid into the 2006 NCAA Championship.

 

The Saints will play at Commonwealth Coast Conference champion Endicott (14-4) in Beverly, MA, at 4:00pm on Wednesday with the winner of that game advancing to play at Geneseo (12-2) on Saturday at 1 p.m.

 

The Saints (13-3, 6-0) found themselves down early to the Red Hawks, who upended Hamilton in overtime on Friday to have the opportunity to play in the Liberty League title game. RPI came out and forced St. Lawrence to play at their tempo, which helped the visitors get out to an early 2-0 lead. Josh Secora scored 3:57 into the game to put RPI ahead, and teammate Adam LoGiudice put the No. 2 seed up 2-0 to end the opening quarter and put the Saints on their heels.

 

Although the Saints had some quality chances on the offensive end, Rensselaer netminder John Thibdeau was rock solid and kept the Saints off the score board in the early going. His play allowed RPI to continue to put pressure on the Saints, and it led to two more goals from PJ McComb and Alex MacDiarmid to extend the visitor's lead to 4-0.

 

The Saints would finally tally their opening goal with 5:57 to play in the first half when junior Nick Mastine scored a man up goal to close the gap to 4-1. Sophomore attack Ben Prime was not far behind, as he tried to get the Saints some momentum, scoring only 1:15 after Mastine to make the score 4-2. However, the Red Hawks would reassert themselves and McComb scored with 2:09 on the clock to complete the first half scoring and give RPI a 5-2 cushion heading into halftime.

 

With their backs against the wall, the Saints responded in the third quarter, scoring four goals while holding RPI to one goal to even the score at 6-6 headed into the final quarter. Freshman Peter Carroll scored just over a minute into the half, followed by Mastine's second of the afternoon to bring St. Lawrence to within a goal at 5-4. After RPI netted their sixth goal of the game (MacDiarmid), the Saints got goals from rookies Tyler Moore and Carroll in the final five minutes to even the score and set the stage for a fantastic finish at North Country Field.

 

With the score finally tied for the first time since the game started, St. Lawrence turned to their leaders to make plays down the stretch. Tri-captain Andy Centauro was the first to respond. The Sudbury, MA native, who entered the fourth quarter with two assists in the game, scored back-to-back goals to open the fourth quarter and give the Saints an 8-6 lead. Centauro would then find Moore, who notched his second man-up goal of the afternoon at the ten minute mark to put St. Lawrence ahead 9-6.

 

It appeared the Saints had locked up the Liberty League title three minutes later, as Prime scored with 8:00 remaining, followed by sophomore Ben Buskey tallying his first goal of the season with only 7:43 to play to put the Saints up 11-6. Rensselaer refused to go away though, and in a dramatic momentum swing, scored three goals in a 1:41 span to quickly close the gap to 11-9 with 5:49 to play in regulation.

 

Freshman PJ Santora won a key face-off for the Saints, who then maintained control in the offensive end as precious time ran off the clock. Having to press, the Red Hawks aggressively went after the ball, but took two untimely penalties in the final 1:24 of regulation that would end their hopes of a come back. Centauro would put the finishing touches of a six-point effort with his third goal of the day with 26 seconds remaining to seal the victory.

 

With the clock ticking down to zero, the Saints erupted on to the field as head coach Mike Mahoney was doused with gatorade on the sideline. The Liberty League Championship plaque was awarded to the

St. Lawrence seniors and captains, who will represent the university in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1987. The NCAA Men's Lacrosse seedings will be released on CSTV this evening, with the tournament beginning on Wednesday.

 

 

 

SAINTS TO SQUARE OFF WITH

RENSSELAER FOR CONFERENCE TITLE

May 5: The St. Lawrence University men's lacrosse team flexed their muscle on Friday afternoon, showing exactly how they earned the No. 1 seed in the Liberty League Tournament with a convincing 14-5 victory over the Clarkson Golden Knights in a physical battle at North Country Field.

 

The Saints, who entered the game ranked 18th in the country, won their eleventh consecutive game primarily because of their outstanding defense, which kept the 2006 Liberty League Player of the Year, Brian Hanlon, in check.

 

Although St. Lawrence trailed 1-0 early after a goal from Bryan Johnson, the home team bounced back with a pair of goals from freshman Tyler Moore to grab a 2-1 lead with 5:13 remaining in the opening quarter. However, that first fifteen minutes was far from over as the offenses exploded in the final five minutes for five goals. After the teams exchanged goals to make the score 3-2 in favor of St. Lawrence, the Golden Knights knotted the score at 3-3 when Hanlon scored his first goal of the game at 12:18.

 

What looked to be a back-and-forth game quickly got away from Clarkson, as St. Lawrence scored two goals to end the first quarter and grab a 5-3 lead after fifteen minutes of play. Sophomore Kevin Russell took a feed from fellow classmate Ben Prime to give St. Lawrence the lead. Junior Andy Centauro then scored with only 48 seconds to play in the quarter to give the Saints a 5-3 lead.

 

The momentum would only build from there for the No. 1 seed, as they used some big hits in the midfield from sophomore Ben Buskey and junior JJ Hearty to get the crowd involved and their offense on the move. The Saints scored the only five goals of the second period, expanding their lead to 10-3 at the end of the opening half. Clarkson was unable to answer goals by junior Brendan Lynch, sophomore Cory Yawger, Centauro, Prime, and junior Nick Mastine, as the Saints scored four goals in a span of 3:29 to close the opening half.

 

The Golden Knights would try to get something going early in the third, as they scored two of the opening three goals of the second half. Greg Gibbons scored his lone goal of the game just 1:57 into the third quarter, and Bryan Johnson netted his third of the afternoon to try and lift Clarkson back into the game. However, from there on out, it was the St. Lawrence defense that stole the show.

 

Hearty, Buskey, junior Brian Crowley, and junior goaltender Justin Demuth shut down Clarkson's attack with some fantastic pressure and forcing timely turnovers. The Golden Knights wouldn't score again, while the Saints tallied three more goals from Russell, Lynch, and first year student Peter Carroll to complete the scoring.

 

Demuth finished the afternoon with eight saves on 13 shots while earning his 11th straight win between the pipes. Freshman Greg Lamb was solid for Clarkson, making 13 saves on 27 shots. Freshman PJ Santora won 15-of-22 face-offs on the afternoon, which helped the Saints outshoot their nemesis 46-17.

 

The win earns the No. 1 Saints a bid into the 2006 Liberty League Championship game on Sunday afternoon against the No. 2 seeded RPI Red Hawks. The game will be played at North Country Field and is set to begin at noon. The winner of the conference title earns an automatic bid into the 2006 NCAA Tournament.

 

 

 

TEN SAINTS RECOGNIZED IN LIBERTY LEAGUE'S YEARLY AWARDS

May 5: Ten players from the St. Lawrence University men's lacrosse team earned All-Conference Honors and first year student PJ Santora was named the Liberty League "Co-Rookie of the Year" on Thursday as the conference announced their yearly award winners.

 

Santora has made an immediate impact on the program in his first season under head coach Mike Mahoney. The Cos Cob, CT native has been a national presence for the Saints in the midfield, ranking second in the country in face-off percentage and fourth in ground balls per game. Santora has controlled 196-of-266 face-offs attempted (.737) and scooped up 100 ground balls (7.86/game). His ability to earn possession of the ball in pressure situations helped lead the Saints to an impressive 6-0 mark in league play and the No. 1 seed in the Liberty League Tournament.

 

St. Lawrence had five players named Liberty League First Team All-Conference, with the group covering each position on the field. Sophomore Kevin Russell was a first-team attack, while junior captain Andy Centauro was tabbed first-team midfield. Junior JJ Hearty and sophomore Ben Buskey were selected as first-team defense, and junior Justin Demuth was chosen as the first-team All-Conference goaltender.

 

A trio of Saints was voted on to the Second Team All-Conference, including first year students Peter Carroll and Santora. Carroll, like his fellow classmate Santora, has helped the Saints climb to the top of the conference this season with his offensive talents. The Pennington, NJ native currently is tied for the team lead in goals (20). Joining the freshman duo on the Liberty League Second Team is junior Brendan Lynch, who has had an outstanding year in the midfield for the Saints with 22 points (15g,7a).

 

Rounding out the awards for St. Lawrence were a pair of juniors who were given Honorable Mention status by the conference, midfielder Nick Mastine and defenseman Brian Crowley.

 

Although the St. Lawrence is well represented in the Liberty League's yearly awards, the team hopes the future holds bigger prizes. The No. 18 ranked Saints square off with Clarkson on Friday, May 5th at 4:00pm in the semifinals of the 2006 Liberty League Tournament. The winner of that game advances to the championship game against either Hamilton or RPI at the highest remaining seed, with the Conference Champion earning an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.