Senior captain
Nicholas Petrone scored the equalizer midway through the second half as the No. 5 St. Lawrence University men's soccer team battled back for a 1-1 draw against Vassar on Saturday afternoon at Sandy MacAllaster Field in Canton, N.Y.
The Saints moved to 9-0-2 overall and 4-0-1 in Liberty League play, while the Brewers moved to 3-5-3 overall and 1-1-2 in conference action.
"Another very tough Liberty League game today against a quality Vassar team coached by Jon Hood, who has done an incredible job at Vassar," said head coach
Mike Toshack. "It was a tale of two halves today; in the first half they definitely had us on the back foot, and we had to do a lot of defending. In the second half I was much happier; we came out and did our thing, got control of the ball, and we were able to put them under spells of sustained pressure, and we were able to get the goal to get the 1-1 draw. Both teams, like I said, played an incredibly hard game and you know, the draw is probably a fair result."
Vassar struck first in the 13th minute when a turnover fell onto the foot of Alejandro Martinez, who found Zapp Hotz. His finish gave the visitors a 1-0 lead.
The Saints looked for a response throughout the remainder of the first half. Petrone tested goalkeeper Jacob Raphan twice, while
Kenneth Mejia Lopez also put a shot on target, but Raphan kept St. Lawrence off the board as Vassar carried its lead into halftime.
St. Lawrence continued to push in the second half and nearly broke through in the 64th minute when
Sammy Bothwell's shot was turned away by Raphan.
Moments later, the Saints found their equalizer in the 64th minute.
Jack Buyers sent a ball to Mejia Lopez on the left side of the field, and the defender slipped a pass inside to
Baker Diaz, who was backing down a defender. The senior collected the ball and fed a pass to Petrone, who buried his finish inside the left post to make it 1-1.
The Scarlet and Brown ratcheted up the pressure after the equalizer in search of the go-ahead goal. St. Lawrence generated several dangerous opportunities in the attacking third, but could not find the finishing touch.
The Brewers also continued to create chances down the stretch, but sophomore goalkeeper
Zach Amato made three second-half saves to keep the match level and preserve the draw.
Amato finished with four saves, while Raphan stopped five shots for Vassar.
Vassar held slight advantages in shots (16-10), shots on goal (6-5), and corner kicks (6-3).
The No. 5 Saints will hit the road for a pair of matches next week against Ithaca and RIT. St. Lawrence returns to action on Wednesday, Oct. 14, with a 4 p.m. matchup against the Bombers.
Â
