The No. 9 St. Lawrence men's soccer teams scored five first-half goals, including four in a span of less than 10 minutes, en route to a 7-1 win over Purchase College in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Sandy MacAllaster Field Saturday morning. The Saints advance to the second round of competition on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. and will face No. 13 Amherst; the winner of the second game over Fitchburg State, 2-0.

Eight different Saints factored into the scoring, with junior Ryan Grant finishing with two goals, while sophomore Christian Barral-Arteta tallied a goal and assist and first-year Chandler Short added a pair of assists for St. Lawrence. Additionally, the team's leading goal scorers in Rob Brandell and Harry Copeland each added their eighth goals of the season.

Purchase got off to a quick start against the Saints, taking the ball down field and hitting a cross into the box, but after the ball was intercepted by the Saints' starting goalkeeper Aaron Costello, it was pretty much all St. Lawrence from then until the 85th minute when the Panthers' Myles Clohessy spoiled the shutout for the Scarlet and Brown.

"I thought we came out at the beginning of the game a little slower than I expected, but slowly got into a rhythm and created some chances," Head Coach Bob Durocher said. After we scored a couple goals, the guys started to connect the dots because we were making better runs off the ball."

It was Grant that opened the scoring for St. Lawrence with his first of the season late in the 26th minute. The junior, Mississauga, Ontario native subbed into the game in the 23rd minute and wasted very little time making his presence known, taking a through ball from Short and moving in one-on-one with Purchase goalkeeper Esteban Aguilar before sliding a shot along the ground to give the Scarlet and Brown a 1-0 lead.

Junior center back Harry Copeland extended the Saints lead to 2-0 in the 32nd minute when he headed a cross from Short behind Aguilar for his eighth of the year. Copeland had found the back of the net two times prior, but was whistled offside both times following a St. Lawrence set piece.

Just over four minutes later, junior outside back Dan Hunt snuck in behind the Panthers defense and settled an arching pass from Noah Bunton before touching the ball across the box, where classmate Manny Collins was waiting for an easy finish into the middle of the net to make it 3-0 in favor of the Saints.

Grant added his second of the game, and of the season, 24 seconds later after taking on a trio of Panther defenders.

Sophomore Noah Bunton notched his first of the season in the final minute of the first half to extend the St. Lawrence lead to 5-0 heading into the break.

Both teams changed goalkeeping personnel for the second half, as Costello was relieved by junior Ryan Roethel and Aguilar was pulled for Thomas Ogrodnik.

Costello, who earned the decision, finished the day without any saves but remained active in the box, as the Saints regularly utilized the senior for an extra pass to help set things up. His counterpart, Aguilar finished with four saves and five goals against.

The Saints tested the new keeper early; as Ogrodnik was called on to make a fantastic save on Praveen Balakumaran just 18 seconds in the second half, but the next shot – a blast from 30 yards out by Brandell off a feed from sophomore Christian Barral-Arteta – found its way into the back of the net for the sixth Saints goal.

Shortly thereafter, St. Lawrence was awarded a penalty kick after junior midfielder Seyefe Brouk was hauled down on the edge of the box. Senior captain Mark Provost lined up to take it for the Saints, but his attempt was just wide of the right post.

The seventh and final goal of the afternoon for the home team came in the 60th minute from Barral-Arteta, his first of the year. The sophomore picked up the ball at midfield and carried 15 yards before being challenged by three Purchase defenders. He worked his way into just enough space to let go of a hard shot along the ground and behind Ogrodnik.

In total, the Saints utilized 23 of their 24 rostered players for the tournament, less keeper Sean Houston, 15 of whom recorded shots on goal in the contest.

"It was good to be able to spread the minutes out today to try and keep everyone fresh," Durocher added. "Going up early gave us a chance to work on another system of play that we haven't been able to play in recent games."

St. Lawrence, now 17-1-2 on the year, finished with a 29-2 edge in shots, including 16 on goal. Purchase, which was making its first appearance in an NCAA tournament game, finishes the season 10-10-1. Roethel made one save, while Ogrodnik finished with five stops in the second half.

"I thought it was a team effort today but unfortunately in this format we don't have any time to celebrate," Durocher said. "We are certainly happy about the result, but now we need to focus all of our attention to be prepared for Amherst."

The Saints and Lord Jeffs are certainly not strangers, having faced each other in last year's tournament at Amherst in the Sweet 16. The Jeffs edged the Saints 2-1 in double overtime, after Austin Roney scored in the final minute of regulation for St. Lawrence to force extra time.

Kickoff for the second round contest is scheduled for 1:00 pm on Sunday afternoon.