Senior Carly Dziekan made a big defensive save in the first half and led an aggressive defensive effort as The St. Lawrence University Field Hockey team rang the Victory Bell with a 2-1 win over Nazareth College Saturday afternoon on North Country Field at Hall-Leet Stadium in Canton.

The Saints (4-8) scored in the first half when Maggie Wraight picked up a rebound off a Kara Pelosi shot and fired a shot into the back of the cage with just over nine minutes elapsed in the game. St. Lawrence controlled the play and had a majority of the scoring chances in the first 35 minutes with a 12-8 advantage in shots and a 5-2 edge in penalty corners.

Late in the first half, Nazareth (6-9) had a good scoring chance dribbling along the end line and flipping a shot over the head of goalie Kim Haab but Dziekan was there on the goal line to knock the ball away.

"I thought the defense played well as a unit," said Head Coach Fran Grembowicz. "We had a lot of chances to score but just couldn't find the back of the net. The defense played well in the middle of the field causing turnovers and keeping the ball out of our end. Offensively, I liked the way we were able to maintain possession and force the play."

In the second half, the Golden Flyers played more aggressively and had 14 shots compared to four for the Saints in the second half and also held a 5-3 lead in penalty corners for the final 35 minutes and change.

With 17:30 remaining, Nazareth's Catherine Willard had a great scoring chance with an uncontested shot from the middle of the arc but hit the post and Haab was able to clear the loose ball and end the scoring threat.

The Saints nearly took a 2-0 lead with 2:30 left to play. After a penalty corner, the Saints had a long shot by Molly Wood tipped in front of the goal by Lucy Stillman and into the back of the goal but as the Saints started to celebrate, the officials ruled the ball was too high off the stick of Wood giving possession over to Nazareth.

With two minutes remaining in regulation play, a foul near the mouth of the cage resulted in a penalty stroke for St. Lawrence and Jamie Oriol slipped a shot just inside the post past a diving Lauren Divine for the 2-0 St. Lawrence lead.

Nazareth moved down the field and had a couple scoring chances late in the half and earned a penalty corner as time expired on the clock. The penalty corner was played out and Emily Prescott flipped a shot over the shoulder of Haab to spoil the shutout attempt.