The St. Lawrence University men's lacrosse team improved to 2-0 on the young season Saturday, as Tommy Hovey scored four goals in the second straight game to lead the Saints to a 10-9 upset over nationally-ranked No. 19 Nazareth in Rochester, NY. Conor Healey added a goal and two assists, while Jeremy Vautour and Marc Perroni each had a goal and a helper.

The Saints earned the victory despite seeing Nazareth (1-2) control many of the statistics, including shots (43-24), face-offs (14-of-22) and ground balls (33-28). However, the Golden Flyers committed 20 turnovers and goaltender Nick Ford made 12 saves including several in the final minutes to preserve the win. Luke Wooters finished with two goals and three assists to lead the home team.

"It was important to get off to a fast start that set the tone and gave the team confidence against a great team like Nazareth," said Saints' head coach Mike Mahoney. "As we move forward, we need to do a better job of managing leads and playing for 60 minutes. We got great goaltending from Nick, good balance offensively and solid team defense."

St. Lawrence cruised to a 5-0 lead in the first quarter, chasing Nazareth starting goalie Scott Brown from the game only 11:47 into regulation. Hovey opened the scoring only :43 seconds in, and after Vautour made it 2-0, Charlie Duprey, Perroni and Andrew Jarrett scored goals in a 3:03 span for the 5-0 cushion to cap the first quarter scoring.

Nazareth responded in the second quarter and climbed back into the game, as Trevar Haefele scored twice in a span of 1:20 to get the Golden Flyers within three down 6-3. Wooters then capped the scoring with 1:15 left in the half to keep Nazareth within striking distance at 6-4.

The Saints were able to retain the two-goal lead in the third quarter, as Pierson Fowler and Hovey each scored to balance Nazareth tallies from Chris Aycock and Wooters for an 8-6 lead heading to the fourth. Though Collin Clack pulled the home team within one at 8-7 only 1:18 into the period, Healey and Hovey scored back-to-back goals only 2:43 apart for a 10-7 lead with 9:12 to play.

Nazareth would do all it could in the stretch of regulation to pull even, including two man-up goals separated by only 1:33 to claw back within one down 10-9. Will Fallo and Clark were the goal scorers for the Golden Flyers, which had several great chances in the final minutes, but Ford made three huge saves and the defense turned Nazareth over three times, allowing the Saints to hang on for the dramatic 10-9 win.

Brown suffered the loss in net for Nazareth, though Michael Cuciti made eight saves in relief. Malcolm Lynch added an assist for the Scarlet and Brown, which will be in action again on Wednesday, March 12 at 7:00pm against Ithaca College in Tampa, FL.