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Men's Lacrosse

Top 10 Clarkson Highlights - #8 Golden Knights Ahead of Schedule Thanks to Standout Sophomores

Expectations were tempered for the Clarkson University Men's Lacrosse team coming into the 2018 season. After all, the Golden Knights lost some significant student-athletes to graduation the previous May, including six conference all-stars: three-year starting goalkeeper Nick Strandholm, two of the program's top 15 all-time scorers in Ryan St. Croix and Ryan DaRin, standout defenseman Justin Gibson, and impact midfielders Marc Simmons and Kyle Brown.

Despite the loss of so many talented players, the Golden Knights returned to the Liberty League Tournament for the third time in four seasons with a team loaded with 25 underclassmen.


Though many of the multi-year veterans produced some excellent seasons, it was the sophomore class that did much of the damage. Sophomore faceoff specialist Ryan Gabriel proved that his first collegiate season, in which he won the Liberty League's Rookie of the Year award, was no fluke, though things did start off a little slow. Through the first eight contests of the season, Gabriel was winning 54.0% of his faceoffs, a more than respectable figure. In the second half of the season, however, Gabriel was virtually unbeatable in the middle of the field, winning 77.4% of his draws (106-for-137), including 18 of his 22 tries in the team's conference playoff contest against Ithaca College. He finished 16th nationally in that category, winning 66.9% of his faceoffs and helping Clarkson lead the conference in that category (65.1%) to rank 12th in the country.

While Gabriel could be counted upon to start Clarkson's offense, Conor Bartlett was the player that usually was a key part of finishing off play. Eight different players scored at least 10 goals for Clarkson in 2018, but none had a hand in more than Bartlett. The second-year attackman scored 30 times and assisted on 23 others, contributing to 38.4% of the team's goals, the highest such percentage in the Liberty League. With 45 goals and 45 assists in two seasons, Bartlett is well on his way to becoming one of the top scorers in Clarkson history.

Both Gabriel and Bartlett were selected as Liberty League Second-Team All-Stars and they were joined on that squad with classmate Liam St. Croix. Already a two-time conference all-star, St. Croix was among the team leaders in both caused turnovers (17) and groundballs (30).

In the first four games of the season, Clarkson was 2-0 in games decided by one goal, but in the final 11 contests of 2018, the Golden Knights were 0-5 in games decided by two goals or less. With a year of experience under their collective belts, the Green and Gold could very well shoot up the conference standings in 2019.

TOP 10 2017-18 Clarkson Athletic Department Highlights

The Top 10 Clarkson University Athletic Department Highlights of 2017-18 were carefully selected by the Clarkson Sports Information Staff. Top 10 Clarkson highlights will be posted on Mondays throughout the summer.

 
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Players Mentioned

Kyle Brown

#37 Kyle Brown

M
6' 1"
Junior
Ryan DaRin

#17 Ryan DaRin

A
5' 10"
Junior
Justin Gibson

#44 Justin Gibson

D
6' 5"
Junior
Marc Simmons

#16 Marc Simmons

M
6' 1"
Junior
Ryan St. Croix

#7 Ryan St. Croix

M
6' 3"
Junior
Nick Strandholm

#4 Nick Strandholm

GK
6' 0"
Junior
Conor Bartlett

#2 Conor Bartlett

A
5' 7"
Sophomore
Ryan Gabriel

#21 Ryan Gabriel

M
5' 10"
Sophomore
Liam St. Croix

#11 Liam St. Croix

D
6' 0"
Sophomore

Players Mentioned

Kyle Brown

#37 Kyle Brown

6' 1"
Junior
M
Ryan DaRin

#17 Ryan DaRin

5' 10"
Junior
A
Justin Gibson

#44 Justin Gibson

6' 5"
Junior
D
Marc Simmons

#16 Marc Simmons

6' 1"
Junior
M
Ryan St. Croix

#7 Ryan St. Croix

6' 3"
Junior
M
Nick Strandholm

#4 Nick Strandholm

6' 0"
Junior
GK
Conor Bartlett

#2 Conor Bartlett

5' 7"
Sophomore
A
Ryan Gabriel

#21 Ryan Gabriel

5' 10"
Sophomore
M
Liam St. Croix

#11 Liam St. Croix

6' 0"
Sophomore
D