YOUNG TALENT, EXPERIENCED UPPERCLASSMEN TO

BRING SAINTS SUCCESS IN 2008

Aug. 27: The St. Lawrence University men’s soccer team has spent the last two weeks preparing for the upcoming season, and as their first game nears, the Saints feel more than ready to take on some of the nation’s top teams as 2008 will only prove to be another great season in the program’s proud and impressive history.

The 2007 season brought St. Lawrence the Liberty League regular season title, as well as a trip to the conference’s championship game, where the Scarlet and Brown fell to the Hamilton Continentals 1-0 and finished the season with a 9-3-6 overall record and a 4-2-1 conference mark.  Despite winning the regular season title, the squad did not receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in a decade, as Hamilton and Hobart College were the two teams that represented the Liberty League to 2007.  They hope to get back there this year.

Durocher is excited about the action he and his assistant, Nick Hillary, have seen in preseason.  “Offensively, we’re moving the ball extremely well and have a lot of guys who are true competitors on the field.  Our seniors and upperclassmen have done a good job of providing leadership to our incoming class both on and off the field, and our first years are looking strong and are doing pretty well for the most part in stepping up to our level of play.”

Up top, the Saints will look to junior Emmanuel Mbong and first years Dan Marvin, Sean Scott and Brendan Gorman.  “Our first years are strong kids who compete and have a lot of speed,” Durocher adds.  Seniors Dan Quitt, Kiel Dwyer and Marco Falcon-Viale will also be pushing for time, while sophomore Daniel Twumasi, who transferred in this season, will also look to play a valuable role on the wing.

In the midfield, the Saints will rely on the leadership, knowledge and experience of the upperclassmen as senior co-captain Paul LaMarca, the Saints’ overall leading scorer in 2007, will lead the way, along with senior co-captain Ryan Moore as well as juniors Yoon Sik Jung, Charlie Mildrum, and Reed Carr. “We’ve seen some impressive playing by each of our upperclassmen in preseason,” Durocher says.  First years Dan Casserly, Tyler McCune, Daena Moultan, Ean Kelleher, and Adam Pistel will be competing for starting positions as well.  “A lot of these younger players have demonstrated to us that on top of shooting the ball well, they are smart players with good communication skills, something we’re looking for in our first year class,” Durocher explains.

One of the Saints most versatile players, sophomore James Stewart, will be anchoring the back with senior Jay Thornhill and junior Terrence O’Brien joining him on the defensive side of the ball.  “James is a player that we can trust to put anywhere on the field,” Durocher says.  “He will be a strong asset to us in the back.” 

First years Henry Eisenhart, Mike Manfredi, Nick Salerno, Kurt Malkames, and Austin Meeker will be vying for playing time in the back as well.  “We have some incoming players that, much like James, will be able to play in different positions for us depending on our needs.  It’s nice to have that versatility among our first year class.”
In goal, St. Lawrence will turn to senior co-captain Emilio Coletta, who boasts a 0.88 goals against average and a 30-14-9 overall record.  Sophomore Phil Jones will be looking for his first collegiate game this season.

In this season’s campaign, the Liberty League will prove to be one of the toughest conferences in the country, as Durocher describes the league as wide open.  “If you’re not on top of your game, you could fall to any team in the Liberty League,” he says.  “It is the most balanced the conference has been in a while, with every team having a shot at both the regular season and championship title.  It’ll be a race to the end, and a good one at that.  But we’re not going to think about that.  We have our goals.  We know what we have to do to get there.  And we’re going to work hard every day to get better than we were the day before.”

The Saints’ strength of schedule will certainly prepare them for postseason action, as they will face six squads who made it to the 2007 NCAA Tournament, including Trinity University, the national runner-up who fell to Middlebury in penalty kicks in the championship game. 

Two of those tough contests will be this upcoming weekend in the North Country Lotto Tournament at Clarkson University, where St. Lawrence will face Johnson and Wales University on Friday at 2:00pm and Fredonia State on Saturday at noon.