ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Sparked by two goals from J.J. Dennstedt and the largest home crowd in eight years, the men's soccer team defeated St. Lawrence University, 3-0, at Edwin Fauver Stadium on Friday night.
Clif White added a clinching tally in the 76th minute. Rochester improved to 2-0-1 overall. St. Lawrence is 2-1.
Michael Peacock made five saves to earn his third straight shutout this season and ninth of his career. St. Lawrence goalkeeper Emilio Coletta made three stops and was tough coming off his line to challenge Rochester shooters on the breakaway and to snare lead passes.
A crowd of 1,518 packed the Stadium to see the match. The Student Association at Rochester made this the first event under the "Fill Fauver" promotion, working to increase crowd support among the undergraduate body.
The Saints have one of the region's strongest national profiles. SLU has appeared in nine of the last 10 NCAA tournaments and has an NCAA national championship during that run. The games between these rivals are always tough and this one was no different.
Rochester attacked from the start. Josh Biegel pushed a pass ahead to Dennstedt who beat a defender off the dribble. Coletta charged off his line to cut down the angle, but Dennstedt managed to curl it past him to nestle inside the left post at 3:04.
Less than four minutes later, Coletta made a brilliant save to keep the score at 1-0. It was Dennstedt again, this time finishing a 1-2 combination and roaring towards goal from left wing. Coletta dove and palmed the ball just wide of the right post for a corner kick.
With just over 28 minutes left in the first half, Dennstedt collected a through ball and shot just wide of the left post with Coletta racing off the line to tighten the angle.
The Saints attacked constantly, trying to find a seam in the Rochester defense. Dan Marvin was the target of a number of Saint passes and in the second half, he came close twice.
Dennstedt got his second goal of the match at 53:53. Sean Hantes got free on right wing. He crossed the ball low into the center of the box. Coletta parried it. Dennstedt collected the free ball, moved wide of Coletta to the right, and rolled the ball into the open net for a 2-0 lead.
Over a seven-minute span in the middle of the second half, the Saints showed no lead is safe; they hit the post twice. With 32 minutes left, a ball came to Marvin on right wing. He got into the penalty area and chipped it for the far left post over Peacock. It struck the left upright and the Yellowjacket defense cleared it for a corner kick.
Three minutes later, Marvin tried again, this time with a hard blast from 19 yards that forced Peacock to go low to save.
With 26 minutes remaining, Paul LaMarca left-footed a ball from 35 yards out on left wing. The ball rocketed against the right post and bounced wide for the Yellowjackets to clear.
White's insurance goal came from what can only be described as pandemonium in the penalty area. Biegel shot from eight yards and Coletta blocked it expertly. The ball bounced off several sets of feet before White latched onto it and lined it into the top right hand corner at 75:24.
On Saturday, Rochester hosts Clarkson University at 3 pm. Sat. Lawrence travels to SUNY Geneseo.
