Brendan McNamee's goal in the 14^th minute proved to be the difference as the No. 11 St. Lawrence men's soccer team edged Vassar 1-0 on Sandy MacAllaster Field Saturday afternoon.

Senior Christian Barral-Arteta set up the play with an outstanding ball from midfield and hit McNamee as he cut across the top of the box one-on-one with a Vassar defender. The Newton, N.J. native chested the ball down before hitting a volley into the far upper 90 for his second of the year and the game's only goal.

Vassar controlled the play early and had the Saints pinned in their defensive third for much of the first part of the first half, but McNamee's goal gave the Saints momentum to get back to their possession style of play and control the pace.

The Brewers outshot the Saints in a physical matchup 18-16 with a 7-5 edge in shots on goal. Goalkeeper Mike Smith finished with a career-high six saves in his second consecutive shutout for his fifth win this season. Aidan Callahan made a defensive save on the line during a heavy offensive attack by the Brewers late in the first half to keep the visitors off the board.

With just over four minutes remaining in the first half it looked as those the Saints had taken a 2-0 lead on a corner kick by Noah Bunton that curled into the goal, but the official ruled the Saints had made contact with goalkeeper Matt Marcelino and awarded Vassar a free kick inside the box. Marcelino finished with four saves for Vassar.

With the win, the Saints improve to 9-1-0 overall and 2-1-0 in the Liberty League. Vassar drops to 7-2-2 and 1-1-1 against conference opponents.

The Saints will travel to Skidmore next weekend for the first of four road matches before returning home to finish out the regular season against Clarkson on Oct. 29.