Box Score

The College at Brockport jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in the second half and made it stand up, edging out a 2-1 victory over St. Lawrence University in the NCAA Division III Tournament 1st Round at Edwin Fauver Stadium on Saturday night.
 
Brockport moves to 16-4-2 on the season with the win, its fifth straight, and will face the host University of Rochester in the regional final on Sunday night.  St. Lawrence ends its season with a 12-3-3 mark.
 
Quintin Volpe and AJ Sinclair scored the goals for Brockport, while St. Lawrence's goal was scored by Aidan Callahan on a penalty kick.  In goal, Joseph Romano made three saves for the Golden Eagles while Mike Smith also stopped three shots for the Saints.
 
The game was a physical one, with four yellow cards and 36 total fouls being called.
 
"It was a hard fought and emotionally played game.  But our team was battled tested and we were able to pull through, explained Brockport head coach Gary Lapietra. "Now we need to regroup and focus on coming out with the same intensity tomorrow.
 
One of those fouls led to the opening goal in the 28th minute.  A SLU hard tackle earned Brockport a free kick 38 yards out.  Volpe stepped up and unleashed a strike which sizzled into the top right corner of the net, getting some help from a stiff tailwind.
 
"All I thought about was to put the ball on target," said Volpe. "I kept thinking about all the times I had practiced that shot before and to just give it a good strike.
 
Ten minutes later, Jeff Hibbard connected on a header shot from inside the box, but his attempt just trickled wide of the net.
 
St. Lawrence tried to counter late in the half, but shots from Jethro Dede and Callahan were saved and blocked in the closing minutes.
 
Brockport's Sinclair made it 2-0 Golden Eagles in the 55th minute.  A long cross into the box led to a miscommunication with a St. Lawrence back and Smith in goal, leading to a loose ball and an open net.  Sinclair capitalized on the chance and tapped in the 15 yard shot for the big insurance goal.
 
A little over four minutes later, a Saints player was taken down in the box, leading to a penalty kick opportunity, which Callahan calmly converted, halving in the lead.
 
"We battled tough to get it back to 2-1," said Saints head coach Mike Toshack, "and that says a lot about this team, and especially our great senior class."
 
St. Lawrence turned on the offensive pressure after getting its first goal, with Dede earning a number of chances, including a point-blank shot from eight yards which was saved by Romano in the 77th minute.
 
Lapietra credited his defense and goalkeeper with holding strong against a tricky SLU attack leading to the victory. 
 
"St. Lawrence had a real good 1-on-1 game, but our outside backs Michael Myers and Russel Hines were tremendous, and Joe [Romano] made some big plays down the stretch."