Potsdam, NY – In a rematch of last year’s first-round NCAA playoff game, Cortland State once again defeated Clarkson University, but this time the Red Dragons had a much tougher time in putting away the Golden Knights as they held off a late Clarkson charge to gain a 9-6 non-league victory at SUNY Potsdam’s artificial turf field on Wednesday afternoon.
Ranked fourth in the nation, Cortland (4-0) held a 5-1 lead at the half and extended it to 7-1 midway through the third before Clarkson rallied by scoring five of the last seven goals, including three unanswered tallies in the fourth quarter, to push the Red Dragons to the limit.
Sophomore Mike McKenna (Camden, DE) led Clarkson with two goals. Senior Rich Burritt (Oswego, NY) and junior Brian Hanlon (Marcellus, NY) chipped in one goal and one assist each for the Knights. Juniors TJ Drake (Rochester, NY) and Jon Parks (Canton, NY) rounded out the Clarkson goal scorers with one tally apiece.
Brian Atkins and Kyle Lambert led Cortland with two goals and one assist each.
Clarkson out shot Cortland 31-30 and held an edge in groundballs by the same margin. The Knights were 1-4 in man-up situations, while the Red Dragons were 1-5 and also scored a man-down goal.
Ben Gaebel posted 14 saves in the Red Dragons’ goal, while the Knights’ junior keeper, Joe Zebrowski (Liverpool, NY) recorded 11 stops.
Clarkson, which stands at 1-3, plays at Plattsburgh on Saturday.
