Michael Marinello made 13 saves and the Saints' defense robbed the Golden Flyers of four extra-man opportunities, as the No. 14 St. Lawrence University men's lacrosse team edged Nazareth 6-3 on Saturday afternoon in Rochester, N.Y.

Daniel Mahoney and Cam Croasdaile each scored twice, while Ben Kniskern, Bobby Wells, Judge Murphy, Ben Hutchinson and Carter Flanagan all scored for the Saints. Hutchinson also added three assists for the Scarlet and Brown. Paddy Condon went 12-for-16 in the faceoff circle and picked up 11 ground balls, while Wells picked up five ground balls and Bobby Bartlett finished with three ground balls and two caused turnovers.

Four minutes into the first quarter, William O'Neill struck first for the Nazareth Golden Flyers, but the Saints scored two off the sticks of Mahoney and Kniskern to take a 2-1 lead after the first 15 minutes of play.

Both teams looked for more in the first, but both goaltenders were up to the task, with Marinello making four big stops.

O'Neill scored his second of the game to tie things up at 2-2 to start the second. Nazareth added another and Wells scored just as a Saints' man-up opportunity expired to knot the game 3-3 before halftime.

A defensive battle on both ends of the field in the first half, the St. Lawrence outshot Nazareth 16-13.

Breaking away from the tie, Murphy and Mahoney scored just seven seconds apart in the early minutes of the third quarter to take a 5-3 lead. The remainder of the third was scoreless and the Saints held onto their two-goal advantage heading into the fourth frame.

Croasdaile added his first of the game and ninth of the season, making it 6-3 in favor of the Saints, after an individual effort to get through the shooting lane for the unassisted tally. Hutchinson then scored his 13th of the season to make it 7-3 off the feed from Lucas Podvey.

With 7:20 to play in the fourth, Sean O'Brien was called for two one-minute penalties for slashing and cross checking. The Saints wasted no time, as Croasdaile added his second of the day on the man-up. Flanagan scored after the penalties expired, putting the Saints up 9-3.

Nazareth's Louis Cogliandro added one more for the Golden Flyers to cap the scoring, but the Saints claimed their sixth straight win of the season.

"First I thought Naz played a real tough brand of lacrosse all over the field," said head coach Mike Mahoney. "I was really pleased with our response in the second half. We played quality defense throughout, had some big penalty kills, a big face off advantage and some timely goals."
 
McLean Ralston finished with 10 saves for Nazareth. O'Neill led the Golden Flyers with two goals, while Ralston and Quinn McKercher each picked up three ground balls.

SLU slightly outshot Nazareth 31-30 and picked up 36 ground balls to the Golden Flyers' 14 and finished 1-for-6 on the man-up, while Nazareth went 0-for-4.

With the win, the Saints moved to 6-0 on the season, while Nazareth fell to 3-3.

The Saints will now prep for their spring break road trip to Stevenson, Maryland, when they take on York College and Christopher Newport at the Mustang Classic on March 15 and 16. Game times are scheduled for 11 a.m. and 1:15 p.m., respectively.

"There is no question we will be jumping into the deep end of the pool next weekend against some great opponents before league play begins," Mahoney added. "We look forward to that trip."