Grant Goal Caps Comeback, #9 Saints Top #6 Yellowjackets
Sept. 7: The nationally-ranked No. 9 St. Lawrence University men's soccer team scored three unanswered goals, with the game-winner coming from first-year student Ryan Grant with :36 seconds left in regulation, en route to a 3-2 come-from-behind victory over No. 6 the University of Rochester in Rochester, NY.
St. Lawrence, which scored all of its goals in the final 30:00 minutes of regulation, improved to 3-0 on the season. Senior midfield Sam DeMello and classmate Alex Laird scored the Saints first two tallies, while Grant capped the scoring in the final minute with his first collegiate goal. Rochester, led by Alex Swanger's two goals, suffered its first loss in 2012 and fell to 2-1.
"This felt like playoffs and it was only our third game of the season," said head coach Bob Durocher. "Rochester is a great team. They pressed us really hard and took away our short game, but we tried different combinations up front and pushed really hard at the end to get the tough road win."
The Yellowjackets scored first in the 20th minute when Swanger broke free on a breakaway. After an 88-minute severe weather delay, he broke free again and put the ball past St. Lawrence goalkeeper senior Nate Goss-Woliner for the 2-0 lead.
St. Lawrence got on the board soon after when Goss-Woliner hit a goal kick 85 yards that took a big hop before finding the foot of DeMello near the UR goal. He won the jump ball and chipped it up over Rochester goalkeeper Scott Garfing's hands to cut the deficit to 2-1.
DeMello nearly tied the score five minutes later when he hit the post with a hard shot, while first-year student rattled one off the cross bar shortly after that. St. Lawrence continued to step up its pressure and notched the equalizer in the 73rd minute when Laird tapped in a loose ball in front of the net off a scramble.
Grant's game-winner game came when, with under a minute to play, sophomore Mark Provost gathered the rebound off a blocked shot. Provost fed the ball to Grant who slid towards the goal and got just enough of the ball to slip it past a diving Garfing for the thrilling victory.
The Saints finished with a 12-7 edge in shots, while the Yellowjackets held an 8-1 advantage in corner kicks. Goss-Woliner made three saves to pick up his third win, while Garfing dropped to 1-1 and made two stops.
St. Lawrence will travel to Geneseo tomorrow, Sept. 8 for a non-conference game set to begin at 3:00pm.
