Troy, NY - The season continues for the Clarkson University Lacrosse team. The Golden Knights won the Upstate Collegiate Athletic Association (UCAA) tournament by defeating Rensselaer, 8-6, on the road Sunday afternoon. Clarkson, guided by 16th-year head coach Bill Bergan, improves to 8-7 and earns an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.
Making its fourth appearance in NCAA postseason play, and second showing in the last three years, the Knights will play at Cortland State in second round action of the national tourney on Sunday, May 16. Game time is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. The Red Dragons, who own a 14-2 record were ranked second in the country in the USILA Poll of May 3
Junior goaltender Joe Zebrowski (Liverpool, NY) made 14 saves to backbone Clarkson to win the over the Engineers (12-4) at Ned Harkness Field. Named a first-team UCAA All-Star on Friday, Zebrowski w
as named the Most Outstanding Player after making two saves in the first quarter, four in the second, three in the third and five in the fourth. He also had two ground balls.
Also selected to the All-Tournament Team from Clarkson were seniors defensemen Taimah Vaber (Cortland, NY), Rudy Perales (Avondale, PA), and attackman Sean Pearce (Auburn, NY).
Clarkson grabbed the lead just five minutes into the opening quarter and then doubled it six minutes later for a 2-0 bulge after the first quarter. Sophomore AJ Heiligman (Webster, NY) scored at 10:10, on an assist from senior Matthew Owen (New Philadelphia, OH), and senior Patrick Ryan (Canton, NY) tallied at 4:34 for the two-goal lead.
Following a Golden Knights’ goal by freshman Mike McKenna (Camden, DE) at 14:11 of the second quarter, Rensselaer’s scored two minutes later to cut the Red Hawks’ deficit to 3-1. Pearce put Clarkson back ahead by three goals when he took a pass from McKenna and ripped a shot from the 30-yard line with 7:35 left in the first half. Rensselaer tallied its second of the game on an assist from Ingram with 47 seconds left in the second quarter to make it 4-2 at halftime.
McKenna’s second goal of the game, which came just two minutes into the third quarter, put Clarkson ahead, 5-2, but Rensselaer answered under a minute later. A man-up goal by the Redhawks pulled RPI to within one goal with 10:27 left in the third quarter. Senior Ryan Bodkin’s (East Amherst, NY) goal with 6:59 left in the quarter put Clarkson back ahead by two goals, 6-4. Owen picked up his second assist of the game. A man-up goal by Owen 3:51 later put the Knights ahead 7-4 after three quarters. Senior Jim Lavelle (Hamburg, NY) set up Owen, who scored from the left side of the net.
RPI opened the fourth quarter scoring 2:48 into the stanza. The Red Hawks scored again with 3:44 left in the quarter before Pearce tallied his second of the game less than a minute later for the final margin.
Clarkson returns to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2002 when the Knights lost at Cortland, 9-1. Clarkson also made back-to-back tourney showings in the early 1990s. The Green and Gold made their first NCAA appearance in 1991, losing at Hobart, 19-11. In 1992, the Knights lost at Nazareth, 22-11.
The Knights played at Cortland earlier this season, on March 24, and narrowly loss to the Red Dragons, 11-7.
