Michael McDougald, Max Mogul, and Marvin Sibanda each scored in today's title game to propel the St. Lawrence University men's soccer team to a 3-1 win over Ithaca to claim the Liberty League Championship on Saturday afternoon at East Campus Stadium in Troy, N.Y.

The Scarlet and Brown improved to 12-6-1 on the year, while Ithaca fell to 8-6-6.

The Liberty League title is the ninth for the program since 2004 when the conference was formed. With the automatic qualifier, the Scarlet and Brown will be going to the NCAA Tournament for the 23^rd time in program history, and for the fourth time under head coach Mike Toshack. The Saints last won the Liberty League Championship in 2018 at Sandy MacAllaster Field. The Saints ended the game with a 1-1 tie with Ithaca, but won 3-1 in penalty kicks to claim the title and advance to the NCAA Tournament. The Class of 2022 were all first-years in the 2018 battle, and claimed their second Championship with today's win.

Robert Reynolds was awarded the tournament's Most Outstanding Player award for his one goal and three assists in the playoffs.

"I'm so pleased for this entire group of guys today!" said head coach Mike Toshack "Everyone had a hand in this win with the hard work this whole team puts in during training, and they know that. All of that hard work and perseverance culminated in a league title, which is awesome. I'm personally delighted that this teams gets to be able to experience the NCAA Tournament as a result."



Reynolds continued his brilliant Liberty League playoffs with an assist on the Saints' first half goal. Like so many of Reynolds plays this season, the goal started with the captain pressuring the opposing team. The senior midfielder forced an Ithaca defender to cough up the ball deep in Bomber territory before dribbling through two tackles. Reynolds sent a pass to the middle of the field where McDougald was patrolling. McDougald fired a right-footed shot past Lee Folger to put the Saints up 1-0 in the 12^th-minute. The assist was Reynolds' second of the weekend, and third of the playoffs.

The first half was not all smooth sailing as the Saints had to make some plays in the back end to keep the lead. Ben Woelfinger had to stop an early Ithaca rush just under ten minutes into the game. A Bomber forward was charging down the left side of the field, and was being harassed defensively by Andrew Terhune. Woelfinger came 20 yards out of his net to come grab the ball and stop the dangerous threat.

With 22 minutes to go in the opening frame, Woelfinger attempted to launch a ball to his teammates in the midfield, but had the kick deflected by an Ithaca forward. The ball bounced up in the air and back, then spun dangerously towards the empty Saints' net. The junior goalkeeper made a run back to the goal and caught the ball before it crossed the line to keep the score at 1-0.

St. Lawrence took the 2-0 lead eight minutes and 50 seconds into the second half off a defensive miscue from Ithaca. Sibanda sent a long ball into the Bombers' defensive zone to push the play forward. The ball fell between two Ithaca defenders, who each tried to seal off Max Mogul. The defenders ended up running into each other instead, freeing Mogul up for a free look on the frame. The first-year forward blasted the ball past Folger to extend the lead to 2-0.

The clean sheet was broken up with 20:08 to go off a miskick from Woelfinger. The goalkeeper came way out of his net to play a loose ball and decided to try to kick the ball to safety instead of picking it up. The kick hit Ithaca's Chris Ogden instead, who collected the ball and launched a long ball into the unmanned net to cut the Saints lead in half.

The Saints retook the two-goal lead with 10:18 left in the game off a penalty kick. With St. Lawrence pressuring hard in front of Folger, Sibanda, the Saints' most dangerous scorer, was hauled down in the box and was given a penalty kick. Folger guessed wrong in net diving to his right, while Sibanda struck the ball to the opposite side to give the Scarlet and Brown the 3-1 lead. The goal was Sibanda's team-leading 11^th goal of the year. The goal vaulted the junior into a tie in the record books with Eric Harms '02 at 11 goals in a season.  

Ithaca was unable to generate much offense down the stretch as the Saints defense and Woelfinger iced the game to claim the Liberty League Championship.

Woelfinger faced 16 shots in the win, and stopped five shots to help seal the victory. Folger stopped three of the six shots he faced for Ithaca.

St. Lawrence held the 7-6 lead in shots on goal, but the Bombers had the decisive 8-2 edge in corner kicks.

The Scarlet and Brown will find out where and who they will play tomorrow in the NCAA selection show. The 2021 DIII men's soccer selection show is Monday, November 8th at 1:30 p.m. ET. The selections will mark the DIII men's soccer championship's return after getting canceled in 2020. After the show, you can find this year's complete field and official bracket on NCAA.com.