LaMARCA, HEFNER EARN LIBERTY LEAGUE HONORS FOR WEEKEND PERFORMANCES

Sept. 24: St. Lawrence University junior midfielder Paul LaMarca and Saints first-year midfielder Ryan Hefner earned Liberty League honors after the team’s first weekend of conference play, which included two wins and brought the team to a 5-1-2 record thus far in the 2007 campaign.

LaMarca (left) was named Liberty League Co-Offensive Player of the Week for tallying five points for the Saints over the weekend. The Mesa, AZ native scored the tying goal in the Saints' 2-1 win over Rensselaer on Friday, and had a goal and an assist in a 4-1 win over Vassar Saturday afternoon. LaMarca has had three goals and four assists so far in the season and leads the Saints with 10 points, nine of those points coming in the last four games.

Hefner (right) earned Liberty League Co-Rookie of the Week honors for his game-winning goal in the Saints game against Rensselaer on Friday. The Webster, NY native’s second goal of the season came in the 70th minute, nearly six minutes after LaMarca’s tying goal, which gave the Saints a 2-1 victory after they trailed the Red Hawks 1-0 for more than 30 minutes of play.

The St. Lawrence men’s soccer team, who are 2-0-0 and tied for first place in the Liberty League, will return to the field Friday, October 4th and face an undefeated Union College (7-0-0, 2-0-0) in Schenectady, NY. The game is set to begin at 4:00pm.

(Photos by Tara Freeman)

SAINTS BEAT VASSAR 4-1 TO END BREWERS UNDEFEATED STREAK

Sept. 22: The St. Lawrence University men’s soccer team scored their first goal with the game only 1:17 old and never looked back as they went on to defeat the Vassar Brewers 4-1, their second Liberty League conference win of the weekend, Saturday afternoon at Sandy MacAllaster Field.

Senior forward David Osorno (Elmhurst, NY) netted the first goal for the Saints after junior midfielder Paul LaMarca (Mesa, AZ) drove the ball across the box and took a shot on Brewer keeper Jake London, who deflected the shot to Osorno, who got the rebound and tapped the ball behind London into the net to give the Saints an early 1-0 lead.

Osorno continued to be a huge asset for St. Lawrence as he also scored the second goal of the game, and his fifth goal of the season, with a lob shot from 35 yards out in the 25 th minute. London came out of the goal and attempted to block the shot, which was just out of reach and fell into the back of goal, bringing the Saints lead to 2-0.

LaMarca, who has had an incredible campaign thus far, added a goal to his early assist in the second half. Junior keeper and captain Emilio Coletta ( Montreal, QUE) had a long pass and got the ball to LaMarca, who had a breakaway opportunity he took advantage of and beat his defenders to put the ball between the posts, giving the Saints a comfortable 3-0 lead over the Brewers.

Senior forward Charlie Bogosian ( Manlius, NY), who has been out the last three games due to an illness, had a great comeback game as he scored the fourth and final goal for the Saints in the 78 th minute off a kick from Coletta. Bogosian found himself with only one defender and beat him to kick the ball high over London and into the back of the net to bring the score to 4-0.

Vassar responded to St. Lawrence’s fourth goal two minutes later with their lone goal of the game. Brewer Marshall Hendrickson scored on Coletta off a free kick in the 80 th minute of play. His first goal of the season brought the score to 4-1 in favor of the Saints, which would end up being the final score of the contest.

Senior captain Mike Bobbie, sophomore Terrence O’Brien, and senior Sean Charles held the back of the field together, only allowing nine total shots for the Brewers, six of which were on goal. The Saints out-shot Vassar 22-9. London had a good game in goal with nine saves

“We played pretty well today,” Head Coach Bob Durocher said following the game. “We still have a number of key players out, but that has given a lot of our guys more opportunities and confidence to play well and they have been doing that. Having these guys out affects our play and our practice, and we have been working on playing smart, which everyone did today.”

The Saints, now 5-1-2 and 2-0-0 in Liberty League play, will not play next week and will travel to Schenectady, NY Friday, October 5 th for another conference game against Union. The game is set to begin at 4:00pm.

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.