After seeing a four-game winning streak come to an end against the top-ranked team in the country, the Clarkson University Men's Lacrosse team looks to get back on track this weekend when it hosts Rensselaer in a key Liberty League contest.
The Golden Knights, 4-2 overall and 0-1 in the Liberty League, have won 22 times in 50 all-time meetings against the Engineers, but Clarkson has held the upperhand as of late, winning three straight games and six of the past seven. That said, two of the last three games have been decided by a single goal, so Clarkson will have its hands full against Rensselaer (5-2 overall, 1-0 Liberty League).
Junior Dylan Broomfield (Clinton, CT) was a key part of Clarkson's victory last year, winning 13 of the 19 faceoffs and controlling eight groundballs along with scoring a goal. Classmate Corey Herrington (Camillus, NY), who recently joined the 100-point club at Clarkson, had five career points against the Engineers in two games, including two goals and an assist in last year's game.
Clarkson's offense, which has been impressive considering the team has played the seventh-strongest schedule in the country according to laxpower.com, is more diverse than in years past with several players vying as the go-to scorer. Junior Mark Nortz (Lowville, NY) leads the team in points (17) and is the top goal scorer as well with nine. Tied with Nortz in assists is Herrington, who has eight helpers this year to go along with his five goals. Freshman Ryan St. Croix (Camillus, NY) is also tied with Nortz in a category, as he has also tallied nine goals through six games. Junior Matt Gold (Pittsford, NY) trails in goals by just one with eight, and senior Peter Goss (Jamesville, NY) has produced seven goals.
Rensselaer's offense has been up-and-down this year despite averaging 11.0 goals per game. The Engineers have scored more than half of their goals this year in the past two games (39) and appear to be on a bit of a roll. Breananin McNeally is second in the Liberty League in goals with 22 and leads the Engineers in points (29) and goals. Matt Hall is second on the team in goal swith 12, but Patrick Finn is ranked second in points with 23 on 10 goals and 13 assists. Ben Piersak has been strong on faceoffs for RPI, winning 62.2% (56-for-90), and leads the team in groundballs with 34. John Phillips also has 29 groundballs.
Two years ago in a 10-4 loss, Alex Castronovo came on in relief of the Engineers starting goalkeeper and posted 20 saves while allowing just seven goals in 50-plus minutes of action. Now the team's starter, Castronovo is making saves at a 62.7% clip and is allowing just 6.20 goals per game.
