Canton, N.Y. - First-year
Charlton Kelly scored the game-winning goal at the 42-minute mark of the first half to help the No. 23 Saints to a 2-1 win over Union in the Liberty League semifinal and advance to the their third straight conference championship.
The Dutchmen, appearing in their first semifinal since 2012, came out strong in the early goings of the first half and took a 1-0 lead in the sixth minute of Wednesday's semifinal when their leading scorer Carl Faber slid in a rebound from the six for his 11
th of the season. Andrew Fontaine hit a shot from distance that was knocked down by senior goalkeeper
Ryan Roethel, but it skipped to the far side of the box where the crashing Faber was able to finish.
But in the 28
th minute, senior
Ryan Grant connected with first-year
Brendan McNamee on a give-and-go at the top of the box before Grant finished into the right lower 90 for the equalizer, his sixth of the season. It was Grant's first goal since a two-goal performance against St.
John Fisher on Sept. 12.
Then, with just over three minutes remaining in the first half,
Morgan Smith sent a corner kick to the far side of the box where it was headed towards the six by
Edward Gonzalez. Kelly was able to win a battle in traffic in front of goalkeeper John Weitzman and bury a shot into the middle of the net for the 2-1 Saints lead.
Union had its best shot at an equalizer of their own just three minutes into the second half, when the ball pinballed through the box and was headed towards the far post, but senior center back
Harry Copeland was there to make a sliding save and clear the box.
The Saints also had a number of chances to add insurance goals in the second half, as
Chandler Short rang a shot off the post in the 59
th minute,
Noah Bunton sent a blast just inches over the crossbar on a free kick in the 68
th and
Dan Hunt hit the crossbar in the 70
th.
Even with giving up nine Union corner kicks, all of which came in the second half, St. Lawrence remained composed and held the Dutchmen to just two shots in the final 45 minutes.
The Saints finished with a 17-5 advantage in shots and 7-3 edge in shots on goal.
Weitzman made five saves for the Dutchmen, while Roethel made one stop for the Saints in his 13
th win of the season.
With the win, the Saints improve to 13-3-2 on the year, while Union finishes the 2015 season with a 10-4-4 mark. As the top seed in the tournament, St. Lawrence will play host to third-seeded Skidmore on Saturday, Nov. 7 on Sandy MacAllaster Field in the Championship match.