Box Score

POTSDAM, NY – The Union College men's lacrosse season ended Saturday with an 11-8 loss at St. Lawrence during the semifinals of the Liberty League Championship. The fourth-seeded Dutchmen finish with a 7-7 overall record, while the top-seeded Saints advance to the Championship game with an 11-3 record and will face Clarkson on Saturday. Ted McKenna and Brendan Kinnane led the charge for Union with two goals and an assist each.

 

The Dutchmen, the No. 4 seed in the conference tournament, came out playing with confidence and built a 4-1 lead in the second quarter. Ian Hunter and Scott Garibaldi scored to put the visitors on top 2-0, and after a goal by Carroll to make it 2-1, McKenna scored the opening two tallies of the second quarter for a 4-1 Dutchmen advantage.

 

Union goalie Christopher Keinath, a Liberty League First Team Selection, helped keep the Saints' offense quiet early, as he came up with nine saves in the first half including five in the first quarter. 

 

Trailing by three, the Saints began to chip away midway through the second quarter. Collin Moon scored an unassisted goal at 6:05, while fellow senior Kyle Benton scored a man-up goal at 9:39 to bring the home team back to within one at 4-3. After Carroll tied the game with a hard shot under the crossbar, Moon put St. Lawrence ahead for the first time at 5-4, forcing the Dutchmen to call a timeout and regroup.

 

The timeout served Union well, as they evened the game at 5-5 with 1:38 to play in the second frame on a goal by  Kinnane. John Allen would respond only 44 seconds later when his long shot was deflected by a Union defenseman, and the ricochet caught Keinath out of position for Allen's first goal of the game.

 

Alex Slauson, who was named the conference's Player of the Year, scored a man-up goal only 27 seconds into the third quarter to give St. Lawrence a 7-5 advantage. The goal would be the first of four in the opening three minutes of the second half, as Christopher Jacobson answered only 36 seconds later for the Dutchmen. However, Moon and Allen scored goals 1:13 apart to give the Saints their largest lead at 9-6 with 12:37 to go in the third quarter.

 

The Dutchmen continued to grind away, as they found success against St. Lawrence senior goalie Thomas Hollingsworth. Kinnane scored at 5:28 of the third, while Nick Alfonzetti cut the Union deficit to one goal at 9-8 with 4:38 to play in the third quarter. St. Lawrence's Caldwell Rohrbach halted the visitor's momentum, though, with an unassisted goal with 1:19 to go in the third to put St. Lawrence on top 10-8.

 

The fourth quarter belonged to the Saints' defensive unit, as Trevor Scoon, Chris Farr and Teddy Barber protected Hollingsworth and allowed only five shots in the frame. Their efforts, along with a goal by CP Rahe at 2:30 of the fourth, allowed the Saints to slam the door on Union's upset bid and advance to the 2009 Liberty League title game.

 

The Saints took advantage of each of their man-up tries, as they were 2-for-2 on the day and managed to not take a penalty throughout the game. St. Lawrence finished with a 43-23 advantage in shots and won 14-of-22 face-offs. Hollingsworth finished with six saves in the game while Keinath made 17 stops in a losing effort.