Box Score

CANTON, N.Y. - The No. 17 St. Lawrence University men's lacrosse team won its eighth straight game on Saturday as the Saints used a five-goal fourth quarter to run away from Rensselaer by, 12-3 at Hall-Leet Stadium. The victory clinched a Liberty League Tournament playoff game for St. Lawrence (10-3, 5-0), which is guaranteed to be either the No. 1 or No. 2 seed. Rensselaer falls to 5-8 and 1-5.

Eric Valero led RPI with two goals, while David Hey chipped in a goal and an assist and John Phillips had a team-high three caused turnovers.

First-year student Kirk Ryder (10-of-13) and junior Jake Davis (4-of-5) combined to win 14 face-offs for St. Lawrence, which also held a 36-20 edge in ground balls. Senior co-captain Cam Scullen added a game-high seven ground balls and five caused turnovers, as well as his second goal of the year to help St. Lawrence remain unbeaten in the conference.

Junior Pierson Fowler led all scorers with a hat trick, while Alden Frelinghuysen and Malcolm Lynch added two goals each.  Ryder picked up his first career goal while seniors Mac Johnson, Davey Hovey, Tucker Garfield and Scullen each scored in their final home regular season contest.

St. Lawrence came out of the gate flying, owning a 10-3 advantage in shots in the first quarter to take a 3-0 lead. Frelinghuysen opened the scoring at 6:32, while Johnson took a great pass from fellow senior Justin Ingram at the top of the crease and beat Engineers goalie Alex Castronovo for a 2-0 lead. Lynch would make it 3-0 in transition with 4:45 left in the first, as he cleared the ball and went straight to goal unchallenged for his second career goal.

Hey would get the visitors on the scoreboard with a man-up goal 4:14 into the second quarter. However, the Saints would win the ensuing faceoff and Lynch scored only :12 seconds later to push the lead back to three at 4-1.  Garfield and Valero would exchange goals to cap the first half scoring with the home team up 5-2.

St. Lawrence overwhelmed Rensselaer in the second half, using a seven-goal run to put the game away throughout the third and fourth quarters.  Hovey used a pump fake to beat Castronovo for a 6-2 lead, while Frelinghuysen made it 7-2 to cap the third quarter scoring.

Three Saints' goals in a span of 2:22 made it 10-2 early in the fourth stanza, as Fowler scored followed by Scullen's second of the year at 3:35.  Fowler then added a man-down goal on a breakaway try, his 14th of the season.

Fowler made it 11-2 with 6:23 to play and was followed a mere :06 seconds later by Ryder, who won the ensuing faceoff cleanly, rushed towards goal and fired a low shot past RPI back-up goalie James Manchester to cap the seven-goal run and put the home team on top 12-2.  Valero would cap the game's scoring at 9:44 with his 21st of the year from Mike Sarson.

Castronovo suffered the loss for the Engineers, making three saves and allowing 10 goals, while Manchester made one stop and allowed two tallies.  St. Lawrence senior goalie Jack Nuland earned the win with an eight-save outing. Fellow senior Jeff Goeke played the final 2:00 minutes of regulation for the Scarlet and Brown.

St. Lawrence will take on No. 3 RIT next Saturday, April 27 for the Liberty League regular season title in Rochester, NY at 12:00pm. RPI closes out the season with a non-league game at Drew on Wednesday at 7pm.