SAINTS ROLL PAST ELMIRA COLLEGE, 3-0

Sept. 15: Saints Junior Paul LaMarca had one goal and one assist in Saturday afternoon’s contest against Elmira College, leading St. Lawrence to a win over the Soaring Eagles, 3-0, in a windy Elmira, NY.

The Mesa, AZ native had the first goal of the game in the 32nd minute after the ball went left-right and senior forward James Merrill made a great shot on the Soaring Eagles keeper Jon DePrimo, who blocked it. LaMarca had the rebound and beat DePrimo at the far left post to put the Saints on the board at 1-0.

Six and a half minutes later, first year Nobuhiko Yamanashi got possession of the ball and got it down the flank and cut it back to sophomore Eric Wolcott who shot it past DePrimo for the second Saints goal of the contest, bringing the score to 2-0 in favor of St. Lawrence.

LaMarca was not done helping the Saints score, as he assisted the third goal of the match, which came in the second half. He was up front and beat the defenders and then crossed the ball to the back post, where senior forward David Osorno was waiting and tapped it in from eight yards out, giving St. Lawrence a 3-0 lead with 20 minutes left in the game. The goal was Osorno’s third goal of the season.

The Saints, who were still missing eight players due to injury and illness, out-shot the Soaring Eagles 21-4, allowing only two shots on goal. Soaring Eagles’ keeper DePrimo, despite giving up three goals, had an impressive game between the posts as he tallied twelve saves for Elmira.The win gives Saints keeper and captain Emilio Coletta his third shutout of the year.

“Our guys moved pretty well,” said Head Coach Bob Durocher. “We created more scoring opportunities than yesterday, which was great to see on the second day of play. One of the goals I had for this season was to make our second day of play better than our first, and the team achieved that goal this weekend.”

The Saints, who are now 3-1-2, head into Liberty League conference action against RPI and Vassar College next weekend. The Saints will play RPI Friday at 4:00pm and Vassar at 2:00pm on Saturday. Both contests will be held at Sandy MacAllaster Field.

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.