Rochester, N.Y.- Paul Rolland provided a goal and an assist to go along with a first career goal from Noah Partenza, as the Clarkson University Men's Soccer team earned their first win of the new season, 2-1, at St. John Fisher, Sunday afternoon.
The Knights move to 1-0-1 and will take on SUNY Brockport, September 6th.
Four minutes was all it took for the Golden Knights to open the scoring in the contest, courtesy of Rolland. A ball out of the back was chased down on the right wing by Josh Baraka and crossed towards the opposite side of the penalty box, landing at the feet of Rolland, whose right footed redirect found the back of the net. Clarkson came close to netting another, just six minutes later, with a through ball finding Partenza on the right side for a close range effort at the near post which was parried away by Andrew Thomas in net for the Cardinals.
Clarkson would add a second in the 20th minute as Morgan Burke flighted a ball forward from half field into the penalty area. Rolland positioned himself well at the top of the box to get his head on the ball and deflect it towards Partenza rushing in, to tuck it away and give the visitors a well deserved insurance goal.
St. John Fisher seemed to grow into the game as time crept down in the first half, coming close in the 36th minute off a long ball forward from Blake Petocchi that flew just over the head of a Cardinal forward at the top of the Clarkson penalty box and was met by an out rushing Carter Kladstrup with a punch to clear the ball from danger. A set piece in the 37th minute for the hosts again came close to cutting into the deficit with a floated direct kick sent forward from 40 yards out that was deflected to the feet of Chase Giambrone at the six yard line. With just Kladstrup to beat, the attacker connected on a decent shot that was swatted out of the air and collected by the senior netminder to stifle the chance. Clarkson would regain control of a majority of possession as the first 45 drew to a close, managing several decent attempts on target, finishing the half with 12 total shots compared to three from the Cardinals.
Into the second half, the hosts seemed determined to gain a foothold back in the contest, testing the Clarkson defense and coming close in the 59th minute from a designed corner play. A long cross from the right wing was met in the air by Jack Tamburino whose header fell right to the hands of Kladstrup.
The Golden Knights nearly added a third in the 69th minute with another long ball over the top of the Fisher high defensive line that was chased down by Joel Alvarez. The forward managed a decent flick over the Cardinal goalie but a last-ditch defensive effort from Jacob McGinnis cleared the slow rolling ball just before the goal line for a corner.
With just under four minutes remaining, St. John Fisher managed to finally find a breakthrough of their own thanks to Blake Petocchi, whose finish spoiled Clarkson's second clean sheet in as many games to open 2025. The Cardinals managed one more shot in the 89th minute with the attempt being met again by Kladstrup as the contest drew to a close.
Clarkson doubled up Fisher in shots (16-8) while also holding a narrow advantage in shots on goal (9-7). Kladstrup was credited with six saves in goal for the Golden Knights going the full 90 minutes with Thomas stopping six for the hosts.
