Marvin Sibanda scored two first-half goals, but it was Raphael Zoccolaro's game-winner with 6:47 left that sent the St. Lawrence University men's soccer team to a 3-2 victory over Union College in their Liberty League opener at Sandy MacAllaster Field on Saturday afternoon.

The Saints improved to 5-3-0 on the season, and 1-0-0 in the Liberty League, while Union dropped to 4-3-1 and 0-2-0 in conference play.

"Today was a typical Liberty League game which was fought tooth and nail right to the end," said head coach Mike Toshack "We were happy for the team to secure all three points with the win today. We are looking forward to turning our attention towards preparing for RPI at Sandy MacAllaster Field on Wednesday, which we expect should be another great test for our team!"

Sibanda, who has been generating shots in bunches since rejoining the lineup, finally got on the board scoring his first two goals of the season in the first 16 minutes of action. His first goal was set up by Robert Reynolds, who fed the ball to the middle where Sibanda beat Kenyon Pelletier for the first goal of the contest.

Less than five minutes later, first-year Max Mogul got his first career point, assisting on Sibanda's second goal of the day. Mogul gained control of the ball at the midfield line and single handedly weaved around Dutchmen defenders and into scoring territory. The quick-footed Mogul baited the defense in and dished the ball to Sibanda, who was waiting on the left side. Sibanda sidestepped the goalkeeper and buried the ball for a 2-0 lead.

Union cut the lead in half at the 27:25 mark of the first half off a free-kick opportunity. Following a St. Lawrence foul, Christian Rufo fired a pass into the Saints' box, but the ball wasn't controlled immediately by either side. The ball ping-ponged around and was eventually settled by Robbie Michalski, who left the ball for Evan Farr for a point-blank shot and goal to narrow the margin.

The Dutchmen held a narrow 9-8 edge in shots but trailed the Saints 5-3 in shots on goal. Union had five corner kicks, while St. Lawrence had two.



The Dutchmen came out of the half with a new energy, looking for an equalizer. Less than two minutes into the half, Michalski made a run down the left side of the field and got hauled down in the box by a defender and was awarded a penalty-kick. Michalski would beat Ben Woelfinger on the penalty-kick to knot the game up at 2-2.

Just when it was looking like overtime was in the cards, Zoccolaro buried a late goal to give the Saints their lead back for good. With just under seven minutes left in regulation, Da'Vaughn Anderson had the ball just above the box and drew the attention of four Dutchmen defenders. Anderson, who earned his first assist of the year on the play, capitalized on the ball-watching defense and fed a pass to Zoccolaro, who ripped the shot past the outstretched Pelletier to give St. Lawrence the 3-2 lead and the eventual game-winner.

Woelfinger finished the game with three saves in the win, while Pelletier had five saves in the contest for Union.

The Saints outshot the Dutchmen 19-12 in total, and 8-5 in shots on goal. Neither team was awarded a corner kick in the second half, maintaining Union's 5-2 edge.   

The Scarlet and Brown will be back at Sandy MacAllaster Field this coming Wednesday, September 29th for a conference matchup against RPI at 4:00 p.m.