Senior midfielder Marvin Sibanda scored a hat trick, bringing his career total to 28 goals as the No. 15 St. Lawrence University men's soccer team defeated Skidmore College 3-1 in the Liberty League Championship at Sandy MacAllaster Field on Sunday afternoon.

The Scarlet and Brown improved to 13-1-5 with the win and extended their unbeaten streak to 15 games, and their winning streak to five. The Thoroughbreds fell to 9-4-6 with the loss.

Sibanda was awarded the tournament's Most Outstanding Player award for his three goals and one assist in the playoffs.
 
The Liberty League Championship is the 10th for the program since the league's inception in 2004 and their second in a row after winning the tournament last season by the same score of 3-1. With the automatic qualifier, the Scarlet and Brown will be going to the NCAA Tournament for the 24th time in program history, and for the fifth time under head coach Mike Toshack. St. Lawrence doubled up winning the Regular Season and Tournament Championship for the first time since the 2018 season, and for the fifth time overall. 

"I'm absolutely delighted for the team today with their victory!" said head coach Mike Toshack "They continue to show incredible resilience desire day in and day out! The unity in the team is obvious for everyone to see and that is what has been a major factor in their success. We're looking forward to focusing on the NCAA Tournament!"

The Saints wasted little time getting on the board as Sibanda tallied his first goal of the game just 6:40 into the game. Sophomore winger Max Mogul made a deep run in towards Bobby Stratts in the Skidmore goal and sent a backwards pass to Sibanda, who buried the ball into the frame to take the 1-0 lead.

The Thoroughbreds did well to not let the goal snowball but ended up relenting a goal with 15 seconds left in the half. A dangerous Skidmore free kick from just outside the box was headed away by Sibanda, who turned it into a counterattack. The ball ended up on the foot of Miles Levy, who streaked down the field and fired a pass into the box. The pass deflected off a Thoroughbred and into the strike zone of Sibanda, who beat the outstretched Stratts to double the lead.

The assist from Levy was the 11th of the season for the senior, who moved into a tie for second all-time for assists in a season alongside Jamal Ballantyne '02.



The Scarlet and Brown did well to continue to create offense whilst suffocating the Skidmore attack. It appeared the Saints had taken a three-goal lead in the second half as Levy found Sibanda once again for a goal but the play was flagged for an offside keeping it a two-goal game.

The unrelenting Saints would eventually get their third as Sibanda was hauled down in the box with a free run. The senior, who also scored a penalty kick goal in last year's Championship match, threw a changeup on goal that froze Stratts and made it a 3-0 contest with under six minutes to go.

Sibanda brought his season total to 11 with the hat trick tying himself and Eric Harms '02 in eighth place for most goals in a season. He also brought his career goals total to 28, slotting him eighth all-time in the record books for career tallies. As if that wasn't enough, the midfielder now has a career-best 28 points this season, the eighth best total for points in a season by a Saint and has 69 career points putting him at ninth all-time.

Skidmore's Max Heberlein scored a header goal with seconds remaining on the clock but it was too little too late as the Saints claimed the 3-1 victory.

Ben Woelfinger stopped seven shots in the Saints' woodwork bringing his weekend total to 15 saves, while Stratts stopped four of the seven shots he faced.

The Thoroughbreds had a 19-11 shot advantage and a 8-7 edge in shots on goal despite the Scarlet and Brown having more dangerous looks. Skidmore had 10 corner kicks to the Saints' four.

The nationally ranked Saints will find out their destination in the NCAA Tournament tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. when the NCAA will broadcast their Division III men's soccer Selection Show on NCAA.com. 

The 2022 championship field will consist of 64 teams. The first round begins Friday, Nov. 11. The semifinals and finals will be held from Dec. 1 through Dec. 3 at Kerr Stadium in Richmond, Va.