First-year
Juliano Masella scored his first career goal in the first half, and the Saints added three second-half goals as the No. 6 St. Lawrence University men's soccer team pulled away from SUNY Potsdam with a 4-1 win on Tuesday night at Maxcy Hall Turf Field in Potsdam, N.Y.
The Scarlet and Brown improved to 6-0-1 with the win, while the Bears fell to 4-3-1.
"Another good result for the team tonight," said head coach
Mike Toshack. "We needed everyone tonight to put in an effort after all the minutes we've been going through the last week against a Potsdam team that is very resilient and always well-coached by Adam Parker. It was a very difficult game, and we're glad we were able to get the result. We look forward to the Liberty League match on Saturday with Skidmore."
The Saints held the advantage early in the contest and generated four corner kicks in the first 15 minutes of play.
Nicholas Petrone,
Kenneth Mejia Lopez,
Kyle Reddish, and
Sammy Bothwell all had chances, but Reddish's was the only shot on target, forcing a save from Sam Allen.
St. Lawrence finally broke through in the 21st minute on a set piece. A free kick from outside the box was taken by Petrone, who crossed the ball to Masella, who headed it past Allen for his first collegiate goal.
Grant Gilmer and
Eric Edmonds also put shots on goal, but Allen turned them away as the Saints took a 1-0 lead into halftime.
After some adjustments at the break, the Saints scored twice in the opening six minutes of the second half to pull away.
In the 47th minute,
Dennis Argueta had the ball in the middle of the Potsdam end and passed it off to
Baker Diaz, who played in Gilmer. The winger fired a shot that deflected off a defender and into the net to make it 2-0.
Less than four minutes later, Diaz picked up another assist as he collected a pass from Petrone and played it right back to his teammate, who finished the chance from close range.
In the 64th minute, the lead grew to 4-0 off a corner kick. Gilmer delivered the service, and his ball found the head of
Jack Greenwood in the box. The ball fell to
Jack Buyers, who beat Allen to make it a 4-0 contest.
Potsdam got a goal of its own in the 73rd minute to break up the clean sheet but could not get any closer.
St. Lawrence held a 17-4 edge in shots and a 10-1 advantage in shots on goal. The Saints also earned six corner kicks, while Potsdam had none.
With non-conference play in the rearview mirror, the Saints will begin their stretch run of Liberty League contests on Saturday, Sept. 26, when they host Skidmore in a 2 p.m. match at Sandy MacAllaster Field.
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