LYNDON CENTER, Vt. — In its first four games of the season; the St. Michael's men's soccer team – a Division II program that competes in the Northeast 10 Conference - did not allow a single goal having outscored its opponents by a count of 7-0.

The last thing the Purple Knights expected in its matchup Tuesday with Lyndon, an upstart team with 15 freshmen on its roster, was a battle. The Hornets, despite losing starting goaltender Jason Marks (Newtown, Conn.) to an injury 16:47 into the contest and being outshot 26-5, gave St. Michael's all it could handle before falling by a narrow margin of 3-2.

"Our defense really stepped it up in the second half," said Lyndon Head Coach Pete Kellaway. "They took the instruction at halftime and played with a lot of heart and pride. We were a little embarrassed by the 3-1 score at the half, but we felt if we could get one back we could make a game of it."

St. Michael's jumped out to a 1-0 lead at 14:57 of the first half when Jack Loud punched home a cross by teammate Josh Vlasich. The Purple Knight lead proved to sort-lived as Eric Nelson (Guilhall, Vt.) knotted the score at 1-1 less than seven minutes later. Nelson took a centering pass from the left by Hunter Torrey (Newbury, Vt.) and blasted a shot into the lower left side of the net behind SMC goalie Nicco Roque.

"Eric was definitely our man of the match," said Kellaway. "He had other people working hard around him, but he definitely controlled the tempo and that was the difference in the game."

After Lyndon lost the services of Marks, freshman keeper Matt LaClair (Beekmantown, N.Y.) came in and made a few outstanding saves to keep the Hornets in the contest. Goals by Jackson Steele and Stefano La Rosa late in the opening half upped the lead to 3-1 but Lyndon refused to quit.

With LaClair keeping the Purple Knight strikers at bay, Lyndon picked up their play down the stretch and pulled to within a single goal on Devin Cowan's (Gabriels, N.Y.) first collegiate goal with less than 20 minutes to play. Jonathan Kimball (Danville, N.Y.) drew an assist oon the play. The Hornets had a few solid runs at the St. Michael's goal late in the game, but could not score the equalizer in the time remaining.

Roque made one save to earn his fifth win of the season while Marks and LaClair combined to make 11 saves in the contest. St. Michael's held a 5-1 advantage in corner kicks.

The Purple Knights (5-0) will face Merrimack on the road Saturday at 6 p.m. while Lyndon (3-2) battles arch-rival Castleton at Spartan Stadium the same evening at 7 p.m.

"We finished two very good scoring opportunities and a team that had yet to be scored upon," said Kellaway. "We need to carry this momentum into the Castleton game. We understand to be successful we need to be consistent and play better defense than we have in the first four games."