Poughkeepsie, NY - Seni Makinde (Hyde Park, MA) scored the first three goals of his career as he became the first Clarkson University Men's Soccer player to tally three times in one game since 1999 as the Golden Knights earned their first conference win of the season in a 6-2 shellacking of Vassar College on Saturday afternoon.

The Golden Knights improved to 2-11-1 and 1-6-0 in the Liberty League with the win while Vassar dropped to 5-9-0 and 2-5-0. The six goals against a conference opponent were the most scored by Clarkson versus a league foe since 1999 when the Knights posted a 8-0 victory over Rensselaer.

Clarkson, which had scored only eight goals through 13 games prior to Saturday, came prepared to play against the Brewers as Makinde's hustle paid off when a Vassar defender played the ball back to the goalkeeper but misstruck the ball. Makinde picked up the errant pass and pushed the ball into the open net for a 1-0 lead just 1:49 into the contest. Vassar tied the score at 23:52 with a free kick, but Makinde helped the Knights retake the lead less than a minute later when he beat his defender and scored to the far post. Sophomore Scott Marcinkowski (Wappinger Falls, NY) popped a shot over the goalkeeper's head when the ball went uncleared at 28:48 as the Knights took a 3-1 lead.

Vassar's Adam Marsh rallied the Brewers back to within one goal late in the half on a header, but junior midfielder Andrew Cahill (Rome, NY) helped Clarkson regain its two-goal advantage with just over two minutes remaining when he took a through-ball from freshman Stefan Vergura (Waitsfield, VT).

The Knights scored two more times in the second half as senior Bryan Oakland (Bow, NH) scored on a penalty kick at 52:51 and Makinde scored on a through-ball from Scott Markgraf (St. James, NY) at 72:21.

Makinde's three goals were the most by a single player since Mike Secko scored four times in the 8-0 win over Rensselaer in 1999. In addition to Makinde's first-career points, each player who recorded a point in the game on Saturday earned their first point of the season.

David Hennessey (Wading River, NY) made nine saves in the first half for the Golden Knights to assure Clarkson its two-goal advantage and Jonathon Rushing (Paw Paw, MI) came on to make four saves in the second half. Two Vassar goalkeepers combined to make three saves.

The Golden Knights were out shot 37-16 in the game, but scored on six of their nine shots on goal while the Brewers mustered only two goals in 15 shots on the Clarkson net.