Canton, NY – Sophomore
Zapp Hotz (Ridgewood, NY) scored early in the second half for the Vassar College Men's Soccer team, who posted a 1-0 victory over #7 St. Lawrence to claim their second Liberty League Championship in the last three seasons. Following his second shutout of the championship tournament, senior
Jacob Raphan (Oceanside, NY) was named the Championship's Most Outstanding Player.
Sunday's victory, Vassar's fourth straight win, improves it to 8-5-6 overall on the season. St. Lawrence suffers just its second loss of the season and falls to 11-2-4.
How It Happened
- The two teams played a scoreless first half that saw St. Lawrence outshoot Vassar by a 10-7 margin.
- Raphan was busy prior to halftime, turning aside five St. Lawrence shots heading into the intermission to keep the Saints off the board.
- First half corner kicks were even at 4-4.
- Coming out of halftime, St. Lawrence had the first good look of the second stanza when Cam Moyers blasted a shot high over the goal just 22 seconds into the period.
- Just 32 seconds after the Moyers misfire, Eli Torrey (Philadelphia, PA) played a ball to Hotz from the top of the box with Hotz depositing his fourth goal of the season at 45:54 mark of the contest.
- Following the Hotz marker, St. Lawrence turned up the pressure to find the equalizer, but Raphan was equal to the task.
- Raphan made four stops following the Brewers' goal, including a pair of attempts from Moyers.
- Raphan's final stop came with just under 10 minutes left to play when he turned aside an attempt from Sammy Bothwell.
- St. Lawrence had one final push in the closing seconds, but a free kick fell harmlessly in the box at the horn.
- St. Lawrence finished the second half with a 13-4 advantage in shots and a 6-2 advantage in corner kicks.
- Raphan made four more saves after halftime to secure the shutout.
For The Brewers
- Hotz reached double-figures in points with his fourth goal of the season and also notched his second game winning goal of the year.
- Torrey assisted on his third goal of the year and picked up his seventh point of the season.
- Raphan posted his fourth straight shutout in goal and matched his season-high in saves with nine on the way to earning Most Outstanding Performer honors.
- Following Sunday's performance, Raphan has made 69 saves for the Brewers and holds a .784 save percentage and a 1.06 goals against average.
For The Saints
- Zach Amato suffered the loss in goal with a single save for St. Lawrence.
- Grant Gilmer led all players in the game with five shots.
Game Statistics
- St. Lawrence outshot Vassar 23-11 overall and 9-2 in shots on goal.
- Corner kicks also went to the Saints by a 10-6 margin.
What's Next
- Vassar will learn its NCAA Tournament opponent on Monday at 11:00 a.m.
- St. Lawrence will also learn its NCAA Tournament fate Monday morning.
