Box Score

CANTON, NY (October 11, 2008) – The St. Lawrence University women's soccer team extended their unbeaten streak to four and won their tenth game of the season on Saturday afternoon as they defeated Liberty League opponent Vassar College by a margin of 1-0 on Sandy MacAllaster Field.

The loss snaps Vassar's four-game winning streak and drops the Brewers to 8-4-0, 3-2-0 in the Liberty League. The Saints, who now hold a 10-1-2 overall and a 3-1-1 Liberty League mark, move to second place in the league.

Scoring the lone goal of the game was junior forward Meg Howard (Shelburne, VT/Champlain Valley Union), who tallied her fourth goal of the season and her third game winner. Senior midfielder and captain Lauren Sischo (Rodman, NY/South Jefferson) added the assist.

St. Lawrence held a 21-12 shot advantage, but the evenly-matched teams both had three shots on goal with rookie keeper Abby van Geldern (/Rowayton, CT/Brien McMahon) earning her eighth shutout of the season with three saves, while Vassar's Anne Hutchinson (St. Pete Beach, FL/Tampa Preparatory) had two.

In a scoreless first period, the Saints came out prepared to fight as they pressured Hutchinson with four shots, three from Sischo, in the opening 11 minutes of the contest. In the 11th minute, junior forward Courtney Hendrick (West Newton, MA/Newton North) crossed a perfect ball from the right side of the flank into the center of the 18, where Sischo aimed to clear the ball over the heads of Vassar's defenders, sending it just high of the crossbar.

In the middle of the half, the visiting team began to solve some of the Scarlet and Brown's defensive strategies as they created several breakaway chances for themselves while providing intense pressure to St. Lawrence's defensive line. In the 18th minute, Brewer Carolyn Demougeot (Potomac, MD/French International) served a ball to teammate Anna Robinson (Toronto, ON/Havergal College), who was able to beat an offsides trap and go one on one with van Geldern. Robinson shot a low ball that hit the ground just far enough away to slow it down so the rookie keeper could collect it and make the save.

The second half saw a tough Brewers squad apply their strength up front as they were able to control the ball throughout the opening minutes of play. Vassar's Robinson found herself up field heading into St. Lawrence territory and was fed the ball as she dribbled it through the Saints defense to duke it out once again with van Geldern. The keeper came out to stop the ball, but Robinson maintained possession as the defenders swarmed her, forcing the Brewer to turn and send the ball just wide of the far post.

It wasn't more than two minutes later the Saints would rebound and regain control of the ball and push the flow of play down field towards Vassar's end. Howard capitalized off a feed from Sischo, drilling a shot from outside the 18 which deflected off the bottom of the crossbar and into the net, eluding Hutchinson to gain a 1-0 lead and earn the eventual game winner.

Vassar had a couple chances to even things up, but St. Lawrence contained the highest-scoring offense in the conference to only two shots in the remainder of the game to collect the victory.