BOX SCORE: Vassar 0, St. Lawrence 0 (Vassar advances on penalty kicks, 3-1)

CANTON, N.Y. – The Vassar College men's soccer team tied top-ranked St. Lawrence University 0-0 and advanced to the Liberty League Championship game on penalty kicks 3-1 on Wednesday at Archie MacAllaster Field.

“St. Lawrence is the number one team in the country for a reason; they're tremendously skillful and a well-coached team,” said head coach Andy Jennings. “We managed to stay with them. Both teams battled hard and it came down to the PKs.”

The Brewers (10-5-3) snapped the Saints (16-0-1) 16-game winning streak and will travel to Rochester Institute of Technology (11-6-2) for the Liberty Championship game on Saturday, November 5, at 1 p.m.

Up against the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) six-week National No. 1 and the only undefeated and untied team remaining in Division III, Vassar dug in for 110 minutes of scoreless soccer to force a penalty shoot-out.

Vassar junior Gary Clauss, who was subbed into goal for Ryan Grimme in the first overtime, made two diving saves on the Saint's first two attempts to give Vassar a 1-0 lead after senior Sam Erlichson-McCarthy scored on the first penalty kick.

“Ryan kept us in the game, made some tremendous saves and was a massive presence in the back,” said Jennings. “Gary is a tremendous shot-stopper. The way he practiced on Monday, we knew he would be the guy for a shoot-out.”

Senior captain Ross Macklin connected on Vassar's third attempt and Alex Laird matched his effort to bring St. Lawrence within a tally at 2-1 after three rounds.

Junior captain Zander Mrlik struck Vassar's third point for a 3-1 Vassar lead. With a chance to keep the Saints alive, Mark Provost's attempt sailed right and Vassar celebrated its 3-1 win on penalty kicks.

St. Lawrence tested the Brewer defense with a 29-12 advantage in shots and a 13-5 edge in corners but Vassar held stout. Grimme made a career-high 15 saves in goal.

“As a unit we defended really well and we had a play on one of their better players,” said Jennings. “Facing the stiff wind, they put a ton of pressure on us in the first period but we made some adjustments to hold them.”

(courtesy Vassar Sports Information)

BOX SCORE: RIT 2, Hobart 0

GENEVA, N.Y. - In a rematch of their regular-season finale just three days earlier, the RIT (11-6-2) men's soccer team shut out No. 9 Hobart (16-3-0) 2-0 in the Liberty League semifinals on a sunny Tuesday afternoon at Cozzens Field. The Tigers scored two second-half goals to advance to the conference championship game.

Jimmy Forbes and Dan Holowaty each scored to help RIT advance to the conference championship in its first year in the Liberty League.

Ben Frazier started his first game of the year and got the win for RIT making four saves to earn the shutout, RIT's 11th of the season.

After a scoreless first half, RIT got on the board first on Forbes' third goal of the season. Off a corner kick, Danny Bloshkin sent an in-swinging ball into the Hobart box that senior Darryl Anderson headed just before the ball went out of bounds. The ball came out to Forbes who had pinched up from his defensive position, and he fired a shot that beat Hobart keeper Charlie Hale to the right side.

After withstanding a push by the Statesmen, Holowaty got behind the Hobart defense and fired a shot into the lower right corner giving RIT a 2-0 lead in the 77th minute. Holowaty got free when a Hobart defenseman misplayed a ball. Holowaty controlled the ball, gathered it to his right foot and fired a shot that found the back of the net. it was his team-leading seventh tally of the season.

Hobart made a big push inside the last 10 minutes of regulation, but the RIT defense held stout. Junior Ryan Giust saved a ball off the line, heading it out of play with 40 seconds to play.

With 20 seconds remaining, Hobart's Tony Yeboah fired a shot from eight yards out that Frazier made the diving save on preserving the shutout win for the Tigers, their 11th of the season.

RIT was the more aggressive team in the second half, outshooting the Statesmen 9-6. Overall, Hobart held a slight edge in shots 14-12. Hobart took six corner kicks to two for the Tigers.

(courtesy RIT Sports Information)