SAINTS EXTEND UNBEATEN STREAK TO SEVEN, DEFEAT HARTWICK, 3-1

Sept. 20: With nearly every member of their team getting a chance to play, the St. Lawrence University women’s soccer team continued to demonstrate their strength in preparation for Liberty League play, as the Saints celebrated a 3-1 victory over non-conference opponent Hartwick on Saturday afternoon on their home turf of Sandy MacAllaster Field.

The Saints improve their record to 6-0-1, while the Hawks fall to 2-4-1 in their 2008 campaign.

Scoring for St. Lawrence included junior forward Becca Townsend (Stockton, NJ/North Hunterdon) and rookies Marcelle Justison (Oakland, CA/Bishop O-Dowd) and Kristina Peso (Niagara on the Lake, ONT/Holy Cross Catholic Secondary), who tallied the eventual game winner.  Adding assists for the Saints was senior midfielder and captain Lauren Sischo (Rodman, NY/South Jefferson), junior midfielder Stanzi McGlynn (Montoursville, PA/Montoursville Area), and first year midfielder Elena Rogers (Naugatuck, CT/Stratton Mountain School).

The Scarlet and Brown had a number of scoring chances in the opening minutes of the contest but were unable to capitalize on them in front of the net.  At the end of the 16th minute, Hartwick’s Briana Crow slotted the ball to a streaking Lauren Ploof, who handled the Saints defenders as she blasted past them to find herself one-on-one with St. Lawrence rookie keeper Abby van Geldern (Rowayton, CT/Brien McMahon). Ploof took the Hawks’ first shot of the game and put the ball in the back of the Saints’ net to give the visiting squad an early 1-0 edge.  Before the goal, no one had scored on St. Lawrence in nearly 462 minutes, as the last goal scored on the Saints was in the Lotto Classic Championship game against Wilkes University.

The goal energized the home team as they scored three consecutive goals in the remaining 29:07 of the half.  McGlynn set up a perfect corner in the 21st as she drove it to the back side of the six yard box, where Townsend found the end of the service on her back-post run to tie the game at a goal a piece.

At the beginning of the 33rd minute, a wide Hartwick shot gave van Geldern control of the ball, where Sischo picked it up soon after.  Sischo saw a wide open Peso on the left side and passed the ball to the rookie, who controlled the ball down the field, where she beat two defenders inside the box and finished with a deft toe-poke to beat the late-arriving keeper Kellyn Rowse to give St. Lawrence a 2-1 advantage their first lead of the game.

Not even four minutes later, Hartwick kicked the ball out of bounds on the left side of the pitch to give St. Lawrence a throw in.  Rogers took the opportunity as she got the ball right in front of the net and on the foot of Justison, who put it past Rowse for a 3-1 lead as the first-year duo earned the insurance goal. 

St. Lawrence was able to maintain their comfortable lead through the remainder of half and throughout the entire second period, but not without a fight.  Hartwick’s defense didn’t allow a single shot on their goal for the first nineteen minutes of the half and were able to contain a fiery Scarlet and Brown offense to only seven shots in the last 25 minutes.  But their efforts weren’t enough, as the home team enjoyed their sixth win of the season.

St. Lawrence outshot the Hawks 26-6, including 19-3 in the first half alone, and held an advantage on corners (8-3).  Rowse was impressive in between the posts as she made 12 saves for the visitors, while van Geldern had two.

The Saints will host the opening weekend of conference play, as they will face two tough Liberty League opponents in Hamilton and William Smith next weekend.  Both the Continentals and the Herons are nationally-ranked according to this week’s NSCAA/adidas National Coaches Poll.  St. Lawrence will face Hamilton first on Friday, September 26 on Sandy MacAllaster Field at 4:00pm.