WATERS, MARCHAND LEAD SAINTS TO 16-15 VICTORY OVER ROCHESTER

Apr. 5: Senior attack and co-captain Alanna Waters tied a St. Lawrence record for the second time this season and first-year goalie Anna Marchand had one of the best games of her collegiate career to help the women’s lacrosse team to an exciting 16-15 victory over conference opponent Rochester Saturday afternoon on North Country Field.

St. Lawrence, who is now 7-3 overall, picked up their second Liberty League win of the season, giving them a 2-2 record, while Rochester suffered its first conference loss of their 2008 campaign, falling to 2-5 overall and 1-1 in the league.

Waters (Darien, CT/Taft) had six assists, tying both her career-high previously set this season against Mt. Holyoke and the St. Lawrence single game record, further embedding her name in the Saints’ record books. The attack also had two goals in the contest, giving her a game-high eight points.

In addition to Waters, Saints’ scoring included goals from junior Amanda Forbes (Glens Falls, NY/Glens Falls) with four, first-year Kaitlyn Fahsel (Watertown, NY/South Jefferson), sophomores Lexi Wisnowski (Middlebury, VT/Middlebury Union) and Julie Wooters (New Canaan, CT/New Canaan), with two each, while sophomore Katrina Knickerbocker (Clinton Corners, NY/The Gunnery) and first-years Kim Morse (Peaks Island, ME/Yarmouth Academy), Kelsey Redpath (Norwich, VT/Hanover) and Bianca Chevallard (Miami, FL/St. George’s) each tallied a goal a piece. Fahsel and senior-co captain Liz Skinner ( Liverpool, NY/ Liverpool) both added an assist.

Neither team could find a way to break down their opponent’s defense in the opening 20 minutes of the game, with the only exception coming from Rochester’s Allyson Hogan, who tallied the first goal 9:45 into the contest, giving the Yellowjackets a 1-0 edge. A scoreless ten minutes ensued before Skinner fed the ball to Fahsel, who shot the ball low into the net to tie the game at 1-1 with 10:34 left in the half.

Waters’ impressive offense lifted St. Lawrence in the final ten minutes of the period, as she supplied the Scarlet and Brown with a goal and four assists in just six minutes to aid a crucial 6-0 Saint run to give the home team a five goal lead before Rochester’s Mary Kate Hannan found the net and put the ball past Marchand (Concord, MA/Middlesex) to close out the low-scoring half with a 6-2 St. Lawrence lead.

The Saints jumped out to and 8-2 advantage, their biggest lead of the contest, after goals from Wooters and Frobes in the opening of the second half, but a fiery Yellowjacket squad came back from the six-point deficit and made improvements on both ends of the field to score 13 goals and keep St. Lawrence to scoring only 10 in the final 30 minutes of play. Rochester tied things up after Lindsay Dakin scored with 4:56 left to play in and each team scored a goal within the next two minutes to keep it close with 2:45 still to go in regulation.

Marchand made two critical saves in those final minutes, while Wisnowski picked up a ground ball following a failed Yellowjacket shot to give St. Lawrence possession with 50 seconds remaining to give the home team one last chance to win the contest. Fahsel got control of the ball and passed it back to Wisnowski, who beat her defenders and shot it high into the net for the game-winning goal with only 32 seconds remaining, giving the Scarlet and Brown the 16-15 win.

“I felt our transitions were outstanding,” Saints’ head coach Jodi Canfield said. “We were able to spread the ball out, work it around and then take advantage of things we saw in their defense. We shot better, and despite having one of our middies out of the rotation after receiving two yellow cards, the other players had to pick up the pace a little bit, and did a great job in doing so.”

Marchand's outstanding goaltending in Saturday's contest included a career-high 15 saves, while Leslie Dube had five for the Yellowjackets.

“Anna came up big when we needed her to come up big,” Canfield said. “She’s been a clutch goalie for us in these close games.”

Rochester out-shot the Saints 36-29 and caused half of the home team’s 16 turnovers. The Saints held what turned out to be an essential 17-15 draw control advantage, and was 5-for-7 from the eight-meter.

St. Lawrence will travel to Oswego, NY on Friday, April 11, to make up a game against the Oswego Lakers that was postponed due to weather in early March. Game time is scheduled for 4:00pm.

SAINTS SUFFER FIRST HOME LOSS;

FALL TO CONTINENTALS, 18-5

Apr. 4: The St. Lawrence University women’s lacrosse team could not bounce back from a 10-0 Hamilton run that spanned over both halves, as the Saints fell to the No. 7 Continentals 18-5 in Liberty League action Friday afternoon on North Country Field.

The Scarlet and Brown fall to 6-3 overall and 1-2 in the conference with the loss, while the nationally-ranked Continentals improve to 6-1 and earn their first Liberty League win of the season. Hamilton will face Clarkson Saturday to end their trip to the North Country, with the game taking place at SUNY Potsdam at 3:30pm.

Scoring for the Saints was first-year Kim Morse (Peaks Island, ME/Yarmouth Academy), senior co-captain Alanna Waters (Darien, CT/Taft), sophomore Mary Jane Sweetland (Hopewell, NJ/Stuart Country Day), and junior Amanda Forbes (Glens Falls, NY/Glens Falls), while Waters and senior co-captain Liz Skinner (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) each added an assist.

Both teams were able to take advantage of their first draw control wins, as Morse found her way to Hamilton’s net just 28 seconds into the contest. A goal from Hamilton’s Nicole Tetreault 18 seconds later tied the game with a goal a piece. Hamilton took the lead just under three minutes later after a shot from Kaillie Briscoe found its way past Saints’ first-year goalie Anna Marchand ( Concord, MA/Middlesex) and into the back of the net for a 2-1 edge.

A strong defensive effort from the Saints kept the No. 7 Continentals off the scoreboard for nearly nine minutes until Hamilton’s Jen McGowan scored her first of the contest, to give the visiting team enough momentum to score five goals, giving them a comfy 8-1 lead.

Waters’ goals came with 7:42 remaining in the first, as she blasted the ball past Hamilton goalie Kate Fowler. Two goals from Briscoe’s stick triggered a 4-0 Continental run at the end of the first to close out the half with a score of 12-2 in favor of Hamilton.

The visiting team’s energy extended well into the second half, as the Continentals scored six unanswered goals to give them a sizeable 18-2 lead with just under 14 minutes to play. St. Lawrence was able to fight past what seemed to be an unsolvable Hamilton defense in the final minutes of the contest and score three goals, two from Sweetland and one from Forbes off a free-position, to end the game with a final score of 18-5.

Marchand had 12 saves, tying her career-high, while Fowler tallied four.

“ Hamilton is a very strong team and we did not hold up well to their defensive pressure,” said Saints’ Head Coach Jodi Canfield. “Our defense played a good game--holding when Hamilton was in their settled offense--and was able to get some turnovers off of that. But, we couldn’t capitalize off those turnover opportunities.”

“We’ll look to execute better under pressure and improve upon our transition game against Rochester tomorrow,” she said.

St. Lawrence will host another familiar face in Liberty League opponent Rochester on Saturday, April 5, with the game set to begin at 1:00pm on North Country Field.

TWELVE SAINTS SCORE IN 20-2 VICTORY OVER WELLS

Apr. 1: The first-year class accounted for more than half of St. Lawrence’s 20 goals as the Saints women’s lacrosse team defeated Wells College 20-2 in non-conference action Tuesday afternoon on North Country Field.

The Scarlet and Brown improve to 6-2 overall with the win, while the Express fall 2-3 in their 2008 season.

“It was really good to get a lot of first-year players key playing time for future development,” Saints’ head coach Jodi Canfield said following the contest. “We were able to run a lot of different plays and really work on our execution, and were able to maintain really good long possessions before taking shots.”

Senior co-captain Alanna Waters (Darien, CT/Taft) led the Saints offensively in total points with six (one goal, five assists), while first-year Kim Morse (Peaks Island, ME/Yarmouth Academy) had a game-high three goals in the contest.

First-years Bianca Chevallard (Miami, FL/ St. George’s), Eileen Carroll (Pennington, NJ/Hopewell Valley), and Kim Cooper (Wolfeboro, NH/Brewster Academy) each earned their first two collegiate goals, while sophomore Meggie Quackenbush (Canton, NY/Hugh C. Williams) had her first goal of her St. Lawrence career.

Also grabbing two goals a piece were sophomores Mary Jane Sweetland (Hopewell, NJ/Stuart Country Day), Julie Wooters (New Canaan, CT/New Canaan), and Lexi Wisnowski (Middlebury, VT/Middlebury Union), while classmate Katrina Knickerbocker (Clinton Corners, NY/The Gunnery) also had one.

Junior Amanda Forbes (Glens Falls, NY/ Glens Falls), first-year Kaitlyn Fahsel (Watertown, NY/South Jefferson) also had a goal in the contest.

On the defensive side of the ball, first-year Kelsey Redpath ( Norwich, VT/ Hanover) had four groundballs, while sophomore Anna Parrott (Concord, MA/Holderness) picked up three and had one of four cause turnovers for St. Lawrence.

Wisnowski was key on both ends of the field, winning six of 17 draws for the Scarlet and Brown, while Forbes won three and Redpath, Fahsel and Chevellard each had two draw wins.

St. Lawrence will host conference opponent Hamilton College on Friday afternoon at North Country Field, with the contest scheduled to begin at 4:00pm.