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#19 Saints men's soccer host Brewers in Liberty League Semifinal on Wednesday

Posted 11/6/13

The St. Lawrence University men's soccer team will host Vassar College in a Liberty League semifinal game on Wednesday, Nov. 6 at Sandy MacAllaster Field at 1:30 pm. The Saints earned the regular …

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#19 Saints men's soccer host Brewers in Liberty League Semifinal on Wednesday

Posted

The St. Lawrence University men's soccer team will host Vassar College in a Liberty League semifinal game on Wednesday, Nov. 6 at Sandy MacAllaster Field at 1:30 pm. The Saints earned the regular season title and the top seed in the tournament with a 7-1 conference record, while Vassar is the No. 4 seed with a 3-1-4 conference record. No. 3 Skidmore will battle No. 2 RPI in the other semifinal match at East Campus Stadium in Troy, NY at 7:30 pm.

Head coach Bob Durocher, who recorded his 300th career win this season, will look to guide St. Lawrence back to the conference championship game for the first time since 2010, having been surpassed in penalty kicks in both the 2011 and 2012 semifinals.

Wednesday's game will be a rematch of the 2011 semifinal game where the Brewers advanced to the tournament finals with a 3-1 advantage in pk's after playing to a scoreless tie in Canton, NY. Vassar went on to win the 2011 tournament title and the automatic NCAA bid.

St. Lawrence has given up just one goal since Sep. 7, which came in its lone Liberty League loss to Skidmore on Oct. 26. The Saints lead the nation in shutout percentage (.82) and goals against average (.34), and have recorded 14 shutouts this season.

Junior goalkeeper Aaron Costello has anchored the Saints' defensive effort, establishing a new program record for shutouts in a season (14) while leading the nation in both save percentage (.936) and goals against average (.178).

St. Lawrence is led offensively by senior captain Andrew Bednarsky and junior assistant captain Mark Provost, who have totaled 17 points (5g,7a) and 18 points (6g,6a), respectively this season.

Meanwhile, Vassar earned the No. 4 seed in the Liberty League tournament with the help of four ties in conference matches this season. Under the direction of head coach Andy Jennings, the Brewers have shutout five Liberty League opponents, while scoring nine goals and giving up only six. Vassar has lost only two of its last 22 Liberty League games dating back to October of 2011. Both losses were to St. Lawrence in regular season matches (2-0 in 2012; 3-0 in 2013).

Defensively, Ryan Grimme holds a 1.01 goals against average and a .830 save percentage in goal for the Brewers. Tom Wiechert leads the Brewer offense with 12 goals, while Juliano Pereira follows with seven goals and an assist.

The winner of Wednesday's match will play the winner of the Skidmore/RPI match for the conference tourney title and the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The championship title game will be played at the home of the highest remaining seed.