SAINTS, ’JACKETS REPEAT TIE PERFORMANCE

Sept. 7: The St. Lawrence men’s soccer team found an evenly matched team in the University of Rochester Friday afternoon at Sandy MacAllaster Field, but despite a strong showing in the second half of the game, the Saints repeated the outcome of last year’s match against the Yellowjackets with a score of 2-2.

Rochester’s offense controlled the first half of the game, having a 2-0 corner kick advantage and out-shooting the Saints 6-2. They were the only ones to score in the first half of the contest and appeared on the scoreboard after Rochester’s Patrick Ripp crossed the ball, which landed on the head of teammate Scott Cady, who was waiting at the far post and headed the goal into the net past Saints junior captain Emilio Coletta at 21:23.

But the Saints were resilient and came out of the gate strong after halftime. Less than two minutes into the second half, a ball was played to the back post from a restart to forward James Merrill, who redirected the ball to first-year student James Stewart. The St. David’s, Ontario native then directed the ball into the net for the Saints first goal of the game and Stewart’s first collegiate goal.

In the 63 rd minute, Rochester’s Matt Sulkin was given a yellow card for unsportsmanlike conduct, giving Saints’ sophomore Terrence O’Brien possession and a direct kick at midfield. The Saratoga Springs, NY native took full advantage of this opportunity and drilled the ball, which sailed over the head of Rochester keeper Paco Corbalan, landing just behind him in the net, scoring the second goal of the game and his first for the season, while putting St. Lawrence in the lead.

The Saints were up 2-1 until the 83 rd minute when Yellowjackets Sean Hantes directed the ball into the net from a kick that came off the foot of Dominic Pellingra for the equalizing goal.

Both teams battled it out in the remaining time in regulation. St. Lawrence out-shot the Yellowjackets 4-2 and had three corner kicks in between both overtimes, but was unable to slip it past keeper Michael Peacock, who came into the game in the middle of the second half to replace Corbalan and had four huge saves for the Yellowjackets in his 42 minutes of play.

“We both had chances to win the game,” said Head Coach Bob Durocher. “The game was very similar to last year’s, where Rochester had more opportunities to score in regulation, but we were very much in control in both overtime periods. We had some great shots on goal from Stewart and [Axel] Galeano during the last minutes of play. We also had some great saves from [Emilio] Coletta in goal, who really contributed to the game and helped the team fight from behind to come back and tie.”

The Saints, now 2-0-1 in the season, return to Sandy MacAllaster Field tomorrow afternoon, where they will meet the SUNY Geneseo Knights at 2:00pm.