Fifth-year goalkeeper Ben Woelfinger earned his second straight clean sheet to tie the great Sandy MacAllaster '78 for fifth in program history in career shutouts as the St. Lawrence University men's soccer team defeated RPI 1-0 in their Liberty League opener on Saturday afternoon at Sandy MacAllaster Field.

Senior captain Michael McDougald delivered the deciding blow with a free-kick goal at the end of the first half to secure the win.

The Scarlet and Brown improved to 3-2-2 overall and 1-0-0 in Liberty League play, while the Engineers fell to 3-2-2 and 0-1-0 in league action.  

"A tremendous performance and a well-earned three points to start Liberty League play," said head coach Mike Toshack "RPI is a very well-coached and experienced team making this a very good win. Very proud of all the boys and the incredible amount of work they put into every game. Now we recover and look towards a tough away game at Ithaca next weekend."

The Saints came out firing on Laurentian Weekend with Henry Brown and McDougald missing the woodwork early and Kyle Graber finding the net, but he was stopped by Colin Such. RPi was also able to find offense in the opening 11 minutes with two wide shots of their own and a shot that was stopped by Woelfinger.

The teams would trade efforts in the opening 45 but the best look of the half came as the clock expired. Jeremy Ogango did well to push the ball into the RPI half with under a minute left. The play would eventually go to just outside the box where McDougald was fouled. Before the time ran out the official stopped the clock for the free kick that would end the half. The senior fired a missile to the upper 90 of the net to give the Saints the 1-0 lead.



The Scarlet and Brown continued their attack in the second half with shots from McDougald, Brown and Max Mogul, but were unable to find the net. More shots from Sam Pijpers and Brown later in the half would threaten the Engineers but would come to pass.

RPI put on a late push to equalize the contest generating five shots, but Woelfinger had to make just one stop to earn his second consecutive clean sheet.

Woelfinger finished with five saves in the win, while Such finished with three saves on four shots.

The teams were tied with 12 shot attempts, but RPI had a 5-4 edge in shots on goal.

St. Lawrence will head to the road next Saturday, September 30 to take on Ithaca in a 3:00 p.m. start.