Sammy Bothwell scored a brace, and
Zach Amato stopped seven shots in goal as the No. 24 St. Lawrence University men's soccer team knocked off the No. 7 Cortland Red Dragons on Wednesday night at Holloway Field in Cortland, N.Y.
The surging Saints improved to 4-0-1 with the win, while the Red Dragons fell to 4-1.
The win was St. Lawrence's first over a ranked team since the 2022 season, when the Scarlet and Brown marched into Holloway Field and beat No. 13 Cortland thanks to a brace from Sam Pijpers '24.
It was also the first win for St. Lawrence over a top-10 opponent since the 2012 season, when the Saints defeated No. 6 Rochester, 3-2, on second-half goals from Alex Laird '13, Sam DeMello '13, and Ryan Grant '15.
"Outstanding performance from the team today against the number seven ranked team in the country," said head coach
Mike Toshack. "An unbelievably well-coached team by Steve Axtell in Cortland. Our players showed grit and tenacity, and it was a proper game up-and-down. At the end, against a team like this that is at home, we sat in and took care of the pressure and soaked it up; very, very proud of that. Two well-taken goals by
Sammy Bothwell; he really showed his class today. He is a top-notch young player. We have to turn around quickly and recover fast because we have Hobart on Saturday, and our focus is there, but proud of our group tonight."
In a marquee matchup of ranked opponents, both teams came out firing with chances. Cortland's Zach Pachla and Christian Napolitano had the first shots on frame, but Amato was equal to the task on both opportunities.
The first good chance for St. Lawrence ended up in the back of the net as Bothwell opened the scoring in the 13th minute. The winger collected a ball on the left side of the pitch from
Cam Moyers and charged toward the 18-yard box. Before he got there, the sophomore fired a screamer to the far post and past Jordan Ott to give the Saints a 1-0 lead.
The goal was the first surrendered by Ott and the Red Dragons through five matches.
Kenneth Mejia Lopez and
Nicholas Petrone had opportunities to extend the lead over the next seven minutes, but Ott settled things down with a pair of saves.
Amato continued to be a steadying presence in goal, making three more saves in the first half to keep the score at 1-0 after 45 minutes.
In the second half, the Red Dragons tied the contest in the 53rd minute on a tremendous throw-in play. A long throw came into the Saints' box, and Diego Rivera got a foot on it to level the score.
However, Cortland lost track of Bothwell once again, and the Saints regained the lead just 1:20 later.
The ball bounced around in the Cortland end and went off the chest of a Red Dragon midfielder before Bothwell gained possession and made another run. After beating Ott to his left, the sophomore finished a right-footed shot from outside the box into the right side of the net to make it a 2-1 match.
The Red Dragons applied heavy pressure in the closing minutes and had two shots saved by Amato, but their best chance to equalize came in the 86th minute when Iago Lopez's dangerous header rang off the post and stayed out as the Saints held on for a 2-1 victory.
Amato, the two-time defending Liberty League Defensive Performer of the Week, made seven saves, while Ott stopped three of the five shots he faced.
Cortland held a narrow edge in shots (13-11), shots on goal (8-5), and corner kicks (5-4).
No. 24 St. Lawrence will return home and begin preparing for another marquee matchup against No. 14 Hobart at Sandy MacAllaster Field. The Liberty League opener is scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday, September 19.
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