Saints march over men

Author: Andrew Schlegel

Making its first appearance in the NCAA tournament since 2000, the men's soccer team faced a perennially strong St. Lawrence side at Lubetkin Field in Newark, N.J. The Panthers were unable to keep up the run of strong play that brought them to the tournament and they fell to the Saints 2-1.

The Panthers struck first when Max MacKinnon '09 blasted a shot from the corner of the six-yard box past St. Lawrence goalkeeper Emilio Coletta in the 33rd minute. With a defense that shut out both Amherst and Williams in regulation play on consecutive days, Middlebury appeared ready to fight off the Saints' offensive march.

Nevertheless, St. Lawrence struck back in the 36th minute. Charlie Bogosian knocked in a cross from Brendan Tougher to equalize the match. The intense and often physical style of play employed by St. Lawrence resulted in numerous hard tackles and the distribution of three yellow cards.

The rest of the match was close. Both teams had their chances to score, but the keepers played well, making goals difficult to manufacture. Coletta ended with six saves while Co-Captain Zach Toth '07 ended with eight.

With nearly eleven minutes to play, James Merrill of St. Lawrence broke the tie. He collected the ball 30 yards out, sidestepped Toth and passed the ball across the goal line from 15 yards out. The goal won the game for the Saints and lifted them into the next round of the NCAA Tournament.

"I thought we were the better team," said Co-Captain and anchor of the back four, Dave Lee '07, "but as we all know, the better team does not always win. We came out playing well and scored a goal, but they tied it up at the end of the second half. From there on, it was a 50-50 battle. It just so happened their chance went in and ours did not."

The Panthers ended their season at 11-6-1. Although the season lacked the consistent play that many expected from the team, the Panthers did pull it together in time to make a run in the post-season and give the seniors something to remember. Lee commented, "We went from a team of failure to a team that made the NCAA tournament for the first time in 6 years and of that I will always be proud."