SAINTS BATTLE THROUGH TOUGH GAME

WITH RIT, TIE 1-1

Sept. 14: Senior forward James Merrill played another great game for the St. Lawrence University men’s soccer team on Friday afternoon, scoring the only goal for the Saints in their match against the Rochester Institute of Technology Tigers, which they tied 1-1 at RIT Field.

The goal was scored in the 56th minute on a counter attack when junior forward Paul LaMarca took the ball off an RIT corner kick and got it to Merrill, who put it past RIT keeper Alan Smith for the first goal of the game, leading the Saints to a 1-0 early in the second half.

Within the next five minutes, RIT had four shots on Saints keeper Emilio Coletta, and were unsuccessful at getting the ball past the Montreal, Quebec native until the fourth shot. The Tigers’ Mark Frisicano found open field and sped down the left side and spotted teammate Daniel Holowaty who was streaking down the middle alone and fed him a pass. Holowaty's shot was saved by Coletta, but the rebound came to RIT’s Chris Somers, who slid the ball past Coletta, and netted the goal, tying the score at 1-1.

The Saints were down a player in the last 16 minutes of regulation and through both overtimes because senior defender and captain Mike Bobbie was sent off the field after receiving his second yellow card of the game in the 75th minute.

“We practiced our defense on Thursday to prepare them for this weekend, and when we were a man down, we played the way we practiced, and the guys were perfect,” said Saints Head Coach Bob Durocher.

And while the Tigers were able to use their team’s depth towards the end of regulation and into both overtimes, the Saints did not have that option, having eight players out due to injury or illness, including five starters: senior forward Charlie Bogosian, senior forward and captain Axel Galeano, sophomore forward Emmanuel Mbong, junior midfielder Ryan Moore, and junior back Jay Thornhill.

“We had to change our style for this game, put players in different positions than they’re used to, and our men adjusted to that and played well,” Durocher said.

Despite the situation Durocher and his team found themselves in, the coach is very optimistic about the way the team is playing without so many team members. “Any of my good teams that I’ve coached have had to overcome some kind of adversity, and I think these men have handled the situation in front of us as well as any other team could,” Durocher said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better game today from these players.”

Coletta had nine saves in the game, including a penalty kick in the 20 th minute. “Emilio had an excellent game in goal and provided a number of key saves for us in the net,” Durocher said.