Trailing 11-3 late in the third quarter, the Clarkson University Lacrosse team put a scare into Rensselaer by scoring seven of the last nine goals, but it was not enough as the Golden Knights fell 13-10 in Liberty League action in Troy on Saturday evening.
Clarkson fell behind 5-1 after the first quarter and trailed 8-3 at the half. The Red Hawks (5-6, 3-0) scored the first three goals in the second half to hold a seemingly comfortable eight-goal advantage with 11:03 left in the third quarter.
Senior captain Bryan Johnson (Newark, NY), who tallied a game-high five goals, started the Green and Gold rally with his third goal of the contest with 6:32 to go in the third. Rensselaer answered back with its fourth goal at 11:28, but Clarkson struck for three goals, two by Johnson and one by senior Brian Hanlon (Marcellus, NY), in the final minute of the period to close the gap to 12-7 after 45 minutes.
The Knights continued to roll to start the fourth with consecutive goals by freshmen Greg Gibbons (Baldwinsville, NY) and Corey Reinhart (Albany, NY) and Hanlon to pull within two, at 12-10 with 3:53 remaining.
Rensselaer’s Adam LoGiudice, however, put a stop to the Knights’ rally and sealed the victory with his fourth goal of the contest with 1:21 left.
Hanlon finished with four points on two goals and two assists, while Reinhart tallied two goals and one assist.
Rensselaer edged Clarkson in shots, 33-32 and held a 44-40 advantage in groundballs. Freshman Greg Herzig (Amherst, NY) picked up a team-high nine groundballs for the Knights.
At 3-8 overall and 1-2 in the Liberty League, Clarkson plays at St. Lawrence this coming Wednesday, at 4:00 p.m., for its next action.
