A career-high five goals from sophomore Ryan St. Croix (Camillus, NY) led the Clarkson University Men's Lacrosse team to an 11-9 upset over 18th-ranked Rensselaer on Saturday afternoon.

Clarkson now has a 3-4 overall record and is 1-1 in Liberty League games. The win snaps a three game losing streak for the Golden Knights. Rensselaer is now 7-3 overall and has a 2-1 Liberty League record.

In the past three games, all Clarkson losses, the Green and Gold had struggled in the first period, getting outscored 14-2 in the first 15 minutes across the three contests. On Saturday, that would change as Clarkson jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first seven minutes and finished the first period with a 5-2 lead. St. Croix had three of those five goals with senior Mark Nortz (Lowville, NY) and sophomore Ryan DaRin (Manlius, NY) both adding a goal apiece.

The second quarter would be dominated by the Engineers as they scored four unanswered goals to take a 6-5 lead into halftime. St. Croix added a fourth goal at 11:25 in the third period followed by freshman Sam Groves (Milton, NY) scoring at 6:21 to give Clarkson a 7-6 lead. Two straight RPI goals put them back on top, but senior Matthew Gold (Pittsford, NY) scored with 29 seconds left in the third to even the score heading into the final quarter.

Rensselaer scored 30 seconds into the fourth to take a 9-8 lead, but it would be the final goal they scored. Senior Corey Herrington (Camillus, NY) scored at 12:09 before St. Croix scored his fifth and final goal at 10:37 to give Clarkson a lead they would not relinquish. Nortz scored his second goal of the game at 9:33 to give Clarkson a two-goal cushion that would end up being their final margin of victory.

Sophomore goalkeeper Nick Strandholm (Happy Valley, OR) finished with 10 saves in net. Senior Dylan Broomfield (Clinton, NY) was strong on the faceoff, winning 16 of 24 opportunities. Broomfield led the team with 12 ground balls with Stradholm collecting five. Clarkson held a 35-32 advantage in shots and a 37-28 advantage in ground balls.

Clarkson's next game will be when they host Potsdam State at 4:00 pm on Tuesday afternoon.