Box Score

CANTON, N.Y. - The St. Lawrence men’s lacrosse team jumped out to a 12-1 lead against the previously-unbeaten Rensselaer Red Hawks (5-8 overall; 3-1 Liberty League) on Saturday and defeated the Red Hawks, 12-4.  The Saints (9-3; 5-0) clinched at least a share of the 2006 Liberty League Regular Season Championship.

St. Lawrence wasted little time in setting the tempo in Saturday’s Senior Day showdown between the top two teams in the conference. Junior Brendan Lynch scored just 45 seconds into the game to give the home team the early edge.

Sophomore Mike Long and freshman Peter Carroll joined the scoring in the early going as each netted a goal in the opening five minutes. Long took a pass from freshman Alex Slauson and fired a shot that beat RPI goaltender Ryan Michels at 3:36 of the first quarter and Carroll scored his first of the game only 38 seconds later, unassisted at 4:14.

After a Rensselaer timeout, the Red Hawks settled things down and closed the gap on the Saints. They did just that with 7:57 remaining in the opening quarter when Briggs Thompson scored on Saints’ goalie Justin Demuth to make the score 3-1 in favor of St. Lawrence.

From there on out, however, the home team scored five straight goals to end the opening quarter, then netted the only four goals of the second quarter to grab a 12-1 lead heading into halftime. Sophomores Cory Yawger and Ben Prime, junior Nick Mastine, and Carroll (2) tallied goals in the first quarter to make the score 8-1 after one. In the second, it was junior Andy Centauro, Prime, sophomore Derek Hansen, and Lynch who extended St. Lawrence’s lead to 12-1 at the half.

Rensselaer attempted to get back into the game early in the third quarter as they jumped out of the gate to score three quick goals to make the score 12-4 and force the Saints to use a timeout. The Red Hawks’ goals in the third quarter came from Mike Sampson (00:19) and Josh Secora (2:50 and 3:58).

Carroll scored three goals on the afternoon for St. Lawrence, while Prime and Lynch netted a pair of goals each and sophomore Kevin Russell notched six assists to lead all scorers. Freshman PJ Santora won 16-of-19 faceoffs for the Saints and Demuth finished with 12 saves on 16 shots.

For the Red Hawks, Secora finished as the leading scorer with two points (2 goals), while Sampson, Thompson, and Brandon Recchia each had one point.  Michels finished with 14 saves on 26 shots. 

The Saints return to action on Wednesday in a non-conference matchup against Potsdam St. (4pm) and will finish its Liberty League schedule on Saturday against Vassar (1pm).  Rensselaer closes out its regular season hosting league rival Skidmore on Wednesday (4pm) and league rival Union on Saturday (1pm).