SAINTS EDGE RPI IN

CONFERENCE OPENER, 2-1

Sept. 21: Junior Forward Paul LaMarca had another successful day on the field for the St. Lawrence University men’s soccer team, as the Mesa, AZ native tallied one goal and one assist to lead the Saints to a close 2-1 victory over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in the first Liberty League contest of the season at Sandy MacAllaster Field Friday afternoon.

The first goal of the game wouldn’t happen until the 40th minute of play, as both teams were finding their opponents tough to beat. Red Hawk Gary Sroka passed the ball up the field to teammate Aaron Gundle, who then beat his defenders and was able to send a low ball into the back of the net past Saints keeper Emilio Coletta, giving the Red Hawks a 1-0 lead that they would take into the half.

LaMarca’s first goal came nearly 19 minutes into the second half, when he took a low cross from senior forward and captain Axel Galeano who was on the far side, and tapped it in from just outside the six past Red Hawk keeper Jeffery Krywanczyk to score the Saints’ first goal of the game at 63:36.

Only six minutes later LaMarca found himself with possession of the ball again and got it to first-year midfielder Ryan Hefner, who was able to tuck the shot away past Krywanczyk for the game-winning goal in the 70 th minute of play to give the Saints a 2-1 lead on the scoreboard. The Red Hawks never recovered from Hefner’s goal and only had one shot on goal the last 20 minutes of play to give the Saints the win.

The teams were evenly matched in nearly every category, with the Saints only out-shooting the Red Hawks 16-13. Both Krywanczyk and Coletta had great games in goal, with seven and six saves, respectively.

The Saints, who are now 4-1-2 and 1-0-0 in Liberty League play, will face Vassar College Saturday afternoon in their second conference game of the weekend at 2:00pm on Sandy MacAllaster Field.