No. 19 Saints Score Four Unanswered to Drop Adrian, 10-7

by: 

Tara Freeman

Josh Robinson '14 had a game-highs for both ground balls and caused turnovers on Weds.

Mar. 6: St. Lawrence University rookie Jeremy Vautour scored three goals and senior Justin Ingram added two in the fourth quarter, lifting the nationally-ranked No. 19 Saints to a 10-7 win over Adrian College on Wednesday in the team's home opener at Hall-Leet Stadium.

The Saints (2-0) finished with a 43-25 edge in shots and a 32-25 lead in ground balls. Rookie Ryan Brigham was also key, winning 14-of-18 face-offs for the home-team, which needed a four-goal run to rally from a 7-6 deficit in the third quarter. Adrian (2-1) suffered its first loss of the year after struggling to control face-offs, though the defensive group did an excellent job in forcing 22 St. Lawrence turnovers.

"I'm happy with the resiliency we showed against a tough team," said St. Lawrence head coach Mike Mahoney. "Both teams battled for four quarters and we were able to come up with some goals late to earn the win."

St. Lawrence goalie Jeff Goeke finished with 12 saves in the game, while his counterpart Kevin Lerg answered with 12 saves for Adrian. The Bulldogs were led by Cody Kilcoyne and Mitch Burgin, who each had two goals and an assist.
The Saints started strong for the second consecutive game, taking a 3-0 lead in the opening 5:39 behind a tally from Josh Robinson and two from senior captain Tucker Garfield. However, Adrian ended the first quarter down one at 4-3, answering with goals by Kilcoyne, Burgin and John Hudzinski.

Vautour, who added the Saints final goal of the first stanza, would deliver two more strikes in the second period. However, goals from Kilcoyne and Burgin kept the game within one at intermission, 6-5.

Neither team was able to get much going offensively in the third quarter until Adrian finally struck with back-to-back goals only 1:46 apart. Nathan Carroll tied the game with 3:08 to play in the third, while Tom Thielman gave the Bulldogs the lead for the first time at 7-6 at 1:22.

The key moment in the game came with Adrian looking to pad its lead on a man-up try in the final seconds of the stanza. A turnover by the Bulldogs allowed the Saints to rush up the field in transition, as captain Davey Hovey found Garrett Gagne in front of Lerg for a 1-on-1 man-down goal to tie the score at 7-7 with only 17 seconds remaining.

Gagne's goal served as the spark the home team needed, as they rattled off three goals in the fourth to build a 10-7 lead en route to the win. Ingram gave his team the lead for good 25 seconds into the fourth with a laser that beat Lerg for a man-up tally and a 8-7 advantage. He then made it 9-7 with 9:25 to play on an unassisted take, with Pierson Fowler capping the game's scoring at 10-7 with 5:25 left. Hovey assisted on two of the goals in the fourth.

Robinson finished with a team-high four caused turnovers and five ground balls for St. Lawrence, while Sam Marvin added three caused turnovers and four ground balls. Lido Aldini was solid on the defensive end for Adrian, causing three turnovers and delivering several big hits for turnovers.

The Saints will look to keep its unblemished record intact when they head to Ithaca, NY on Sunday to take on Nazareth College at 1:00pm at Cornell University.