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Crouse heads home winner, Saints edge Bard in double OT

Posted 10/1/16

Sophomore Ryan Crouse headed a corner kick from Christian Barral-Arteta into the back of the net in the 102nd minute to help the No. 11 St. Lawrence men's soccer team to a 1-0 win over Bard on Friday …

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Crouse heads home winner, Saints edge Bard in double OT

Posted

Sophomore Ryan Crouse headed a corner kick from Christian Barral-Arteta into the back of the net in the 102nd minute to help the No. 11 St. Lawrence men's soccer team to a 1-0 win over Bard on Friday afternoon.

Despite outshooting the Raptors 28-9, Bard goalkeeper Taylor Bond was exceptional in net for the Raptors, keeping the Saints off the board through regulation and the first overtime session. Bond finished with nine saves for the Raptors in the loss.

The Saints had two free kick opportunities in the first 10 minutes that generated scoring chances, but shots by Noah Bunton and Rob Brandell sailed high. Moments later in the 12th minute a point-blank header at the far post by Tapshak Augustine was pushed over the bar and out of trouble by Bond.

Jethro Dede also had a great scoring chance for St. Lawrence in the 24th minute on a give-and-go with Barral-Arteta. After receiving a lead pass into the box, Dede fired a shot from the far corner of the six, but Bond again stopped the Saints' attack at point-blank range and the scored remained knotted at 0-0.

With 20 minutes remaining in regulation, Barral-Arteta headed a cross from Ross Suitor towards a wide open upper 90 on the near post, but rang the bottom of the crossbar allowing Bard's defense to clear away the threat.

In the final seconds of regulation, the Raptors' Austin Higgins had a look at goal with a shot across the box, but keeper Mike Smith watched it all the way across and the ball rolled wide of the far post to send the teams to overtime. It is the second year in a row these teams have needed extra time to decide the result.

The Raptors outshot St. Lawrence 4-1 in the first overtime as Smith was tasked to make two saves. He finished with four in the shutout win.

One minute and six seconds into the second extra session Barral-Arteta sent his corner kick – the 15th corner for St. Lawrence on the afternoon – into the middle of the box where the 6-foot-4 Crouse was able to elevate over Bard's defense to net the winning goal.

With the win, the Saints improve to 8-1-0 on the season and 1-1-0 against Liberty League opponents as Bard falls to 4-2-3 and 0-2-0 in conference play.

The Saints will continue their Liberty League schedule and host Vassar at 2 p.m. Saturday on Sandy MacAllaster Field.