SAINTS END NCAA BID WITH SECOND ROUND LOSS TO AMHERST, 1-0

Nov. 16: The St. Lawrence University men’s soccer team suffered their first loss in five games as they fell to host Amherst College in the second round of the 2008 NCAA Tournament by a score of 1-0 on Hitchcock Field in Amherst, MA Sunday afternoon.

The Saints conclude their season, which included a Liberty League Tournament title, with a 13-7-1 record.  Amherst earns their second consecutive “Sweet 16” berth with the win and improve to a 13-3-3 mark.

In a balanced first half that concluded in a scoreless tie, the two teams only saw a combined five shots on goal.  Amherst held a 6-4 advantage in shots and a 3-2 edge in shots on goal.  Towards the end of the 12th minute, Amherst had their real first shot at getting on the scoreboard and used a short corner from Nick Lynch to teammate G.L. Genco, who played it to the far post to awaiting Ian Rothkopf.  Rothkopf tried to control the ball with his body but was unable to do so as the ball trickled just wide of the post.

A shot by rookie forward Dan Marvin (Bow, NH/Holderness) five minutes later was deflected by Lord Jeff keeper Lennard Kovacs to give the Saints a corner opportunity, but the Scarlet and Brown was unable to put a foot on the ball as Kovacs came off his line to collect the ball.

St. Lawrence applied some strong pressure in the middle of the first as they were able to keep the ball in their offensive half of the field, but a spurt of energy on the part of Amherst in the final minutes gave them a few more scoring chances as the half winded down.  The Jeff’s Jae Heo tried to get the first goal for Amherst with under a minute to play as the ball was played to him from teammate Sam Kaplan, who sent the ball over the Saints’ back line.  Heo faced Saints’ senior keeper and co-captain Emilio Coletta (Montreal, QC/Marianapolis College) all by himself as he two-touched it and crushed a shot towards the frame, but Coletta dove to get his fingers on it to send it just left of the post to close the first half.

The game continued in much the same fashion, as neither team was able to muster anything towards goal in the opening minutes of the period.  Senior midfielder and co-captain Ryan Moore (Keene, NH/Keene) tried to use a restart just outside the box early to give St. Lawrence a goal, but came up empty as Kovacs collected it at the far post. 

Heo took it upon himself to try Coletta again 12 minutes into the second stanza as he powered a high shot from 30 yards out towards Coletta, who robbed him to give Amherst a second chance from the corner.  The restart sent the ball to Genco who passed it back into Rothkopf as he turned to push the ball just wide of the left post.

The host team’s efforts eventually paid off as the Lord Jeffs’ leading scorer Jake Duker netted the first goal in the 68th minute of play.  Heo used his head to play down a ball to Duker, who calmly sent the low ball past Coletta to earn the 1-0 lead for Amherst.

The game became more physical following the goal as players on both teams committed tough fouls and were given yellow cards in the final 20 minutes of play.  Moore tried his hand at another free kick from the opposite side of the pitch but sent the ball in and was blocked by a Lord Jeff defender.

Seconds later, rookie forward Alex Soto (Lorton, VA/South County Secondary) found himself with the ball all alone on the left flank as the Saints changed fields but was denied a goal by Kovacs in the final five minutes.

Amherst was able to use their height to their advantage in the remaining moments, as they continued to clear high balls with headers to push the ball back out to midfield.  At the end of the contest, they held an edge on shots (12-7) and shots on goal (5-4).  The Saints had a 7-6 advantage on corner opportunities.  Both Coletta and Kovacs made four stops for their respective teams.

The senior class, which includes Coletta, Moore, co-captain Paul LaMarca (Mesa, AZ/Red Mountain), Jay Thornhill (Montreal QC/Loomis Chaffee), Dan Quitt (Ellicott, MD/John Jay), Marco Falcon-Viale (South Salem, NY/John Jay), and Kiel Dwyer (Warwick, RI/Toll Gate HS), played in three NCAA Tournaments and finish with a 45-24-10 overall record.  Among the seven of them, they amassed 100 points, including 32 goals, 36 assists, and 13 game winners.

LATE SECOND HALF COMEBACK SENDS SAINTS TO NCAA SECOND ROUND;

DEFEAT MIT, 3-2

Nov. 15:  The St. Lawrence University men’s soccer overcame a 2-0 deficit in the middle of the second period and scored three unanswered goals in front of a large energetic group of fans and Saints men’s soccer alumni to defeat Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) 3-2 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at host Amherst College Saturday afternoon.  The Saints will advance to the second round and face the winner of the Amherst/Western New England College game on Sunday.

With the win, St. Lawrence improves to 13-6-1 and Saints Head Coach Bob Durocher earns his 11th NCAA First Round victory in 12 appearances.  The Engineers conclude their season with a 16-4-2 mark.

“Since the beginning of the year, I told this team that they’ll never be champions if they can’t come from behind and win. We were able to do that,” said Durocher.  “They stay composed despite being down two goals and were able to regain momentum after putting away our first goal.   Our guys coming off the bench did a great job today, and that added to our success.”

Rookie Brendan Gorman (Ottawa, ON/St. Mathew’s) tallied two goals and senior midfielder and co-captain Paul LaMarca (Mesa, AZ/Red Mountain) earned the game winner, while classmate and senior co-captain Ryan Moore (Keene, NH/Keene) tallied an assist.

In the first, the Scarlet and Brown was able to control the pace of the game, although the shots MIT was able to get off were nearly all on net.  St. Lawrence made some scoring chances early on but was unable to capitalize.  Rookie Dan Marvin (Bow, NH/Holderness School) found the ball early on and fired the first shot for the Saints from 30 yards out, but it just missed the near post to go wide just 5:55 deep into the game.

Moore took his first of 12 corners just 12:22 into the game, sending the ball into traffic just above the six, where sophomore back James Stewart (St. Davids, ONT/Sir Winston Churchill) headed the ball high of the crossbar, maintaining the scoreless game.

MIT’s first real scoring chance came at the beginning of the 17th minute, where Zachary Kabelac took a shot from the corner of 18, but Saints’ keeper and co-captain Emilio Coletta (Montreal, QC/Marianapolis College) was able to put himself in front of the ball and collect it safely.

Both teams continued to create chances but lightning put the game on hold for nearly an hour with just 1:24 left on the clock in the first.  Upon resuming the contest, the Saints were fouled just outside the 18, giving MIT’s leading scorer Christian Therkelson a free kick at the top of the box.  The sophomore calmly sent it into the high right corner and out of Coletta’s reach to give the Engineers a 1-0 lead with just five seconds left in the half.

The energy from MIT’s squad could be felt both on the field and along the bench in the opening minutes of the second.  A foul on St. Lawrence inside the 18 gave Engineer Andrew Bishara a penalty kick, where he faked an awaiting Coletta, who dove to the left as Bishara sent a low ball to the right of the keeper to double their lead as the scoreboard read 2-0 in their favor towards the end of the 53rd minute.

Two goals down, the Saints did everything except give up as they netted their first of three consecutive goals in the opening seconds of the 61st minute as LaMarca sent a shot towards goal where Caldwell was unable to collect the ball, sending the rebound out to Gorman who was in a perfect position inside the six and had a wide open shot on goal to cut the Engineers’ lead in half with just 29:46 remaining in regulation.

That was enough to electrify an excited Saints squad as Gorman tallied another in the 74th minute after Moore fed him a corner to tie the game at two goals apiece.  LaMarca had the game winning goal five minutes later as he beat two Engineer defenders and fired a shot from 30 yards out to give St. Lawrence a 3-2 advantage and their first lead of the game.  St. Lawrence was able to hold onto that lead through the final moments to earn the victory and a spot in the second round.

“It was a great win for us today,” said LaMarca following the game.  “We’ve gotten over the hump of getting through the first round and are already focused and excited for tomorrow.”

St. Lawrence held an advantage in shots (19-8), shots on goal (11-6), and created 12 corner opportunities compared to MIT’s two.  Caldwell made eight saves while Coletta tallied four.

“The truest form of character is when all is closing in around you and you’re able to pull it together and do what you need to do.  We, as a team, did that today,” said Coletta. 

Moore added, “I think the poor field conditions due to the weather hindered us in parts of the game, but we were able to overcome those.  We remained patient and positive throughout the entire game, and that is the core reason we won today.”

The Saints will play again on Sunday, November 16th against either Amherst or Western New England College.  The game is set to begin at 1:00pm on Hitchcock Field in Amherst, MA.