Vassar College goalie Andrew Nicol turned in an 11-save performance on Saturday, lifting the Vassar College men's lacrosse team to a stunning 5-4 upset win over St. Lawrence University on a soggy afternoon at Hall-Leet Stadium.

The loss severely damages St. Lawrence's chances of qualifying for the Liberty League Tournament, as the Saints remain winless in the conference at 0-4.  Meanwhile, Vassar, which got a pair of goals from Sam Seymour including the game-tying tally, improves to 4-6 (1-3) after earning its first ever Liberty League win.

The Saints closed with a sizable 30-16 advantage in shots and a 27-25 edge in ground balls.  The home team also won more face-offs (7-of-13), forced 31 turnovers by Vassar and held the Brewers to an 18-of-35 mark in clear tries.  However, Nicol's play in net and consistent offensive struggles plagued St. Lawrence throughout the contest.

St. Lawrence needed only 55 seconds to score its first goal against Vassar, as sophomore Tucker Garfield put the home team on top, 1-0.  However, the Vassar defense, anchored by Zach Beauchamp, Jeremy Gottlieb and Stephen Kozey, would shut down the Scarlet and Brown for the remainder of the first half. 

With the Saints stuck at one goal for 29:05, the Brewers were able to capitalize and take a 2-1 lead into halftime.  Seymour tied the game at 1-1 at 11:56 of the first quarter, while Max Herman scored the only tally of the second quarter for the narrow one-goal lead at intermission.

Though Christopher Toffoli gave Vassar a 3-1 lead at 3:38 of the third quarter, St. Lawrence roared back with three straight goals to take a 4-3 advantage in the fourth quarter.  Junior captain Caldwell Rohrbach followed Toffoli's goal to cap the third quarter scoring with the Saints down 3-2.  However, juniors Matt Pope and Drake Paul kept the Saints momentum going with back-to-back goals to start the fourth quarter.  Paul's goal, which gave the home team the lead with 10:25 to play, ricocheted in off of a Vassar player past Nicol.

Seymour would get a fortunate bounce for the Brewers on the game-tying goal, as he tried to send a pass to a teammate that went off of a St. Lawrence player and past sophomore goalie Jack Nuland to square the game at 4-4.  Though Nuland robbed Toffoli on a great try in front, he was unable to stop Ryan McCarthy with 2:31 to play on a shot inside the near post.  McCarthy's only goal of the contest proved to be the game-winner, as Vassar hung on in the final minute for the 5-4 win.

Nicol made eight saves in the second half to keep his team afloat when St. Lawrence looked to be building momentum.  Nuland closed with eight stops for the Saints.

St. Lawrence will play its final non-conference game tomorrow, Sunday, April 17 in a make-up contest against Ithaca College.  The game against the Bombers will be played at 2:00pm tomorrow in Ithaca, NY.