Four first half goals proved to be too much for the Clarkson Men's Soccer team as the Golden Knights lost to host Cortland State 4-2 on Saturday afternoon.

Clarkson is now 2-4-1 on the season while Cortland improves to 5-1-1.

All of the scoring in the game came in the opening 45 minutes. The Red Dragons struck early when Daniel Friend one-timed a cross from Tyler Kirschner at the top of the box that found the left side of the goal in the sixth minute. Nick Tata made it 2-0 in the 19th minute, finishing off a pass from Friend by cutting across the box and finding the right side of the goal. Kirschner increased the lead to 3-0 in the 27th minute as his sharp-angled shot from the right side snuck over the goal line after Clarkson goalkeeper Michael King got a hand on the ball.

The Golden Knights answered with a pair of goals just over six minutes apart. In the 33rd minute, leading scorer Tucker Wilcox made a right-side run into the box and finished off a shot to the Cortland keeper Joe Brandofino's right. It is the the sixth goal in seven games for Wilcox. Kevin Calnan then cut Cortland's lead to 3-2 in the 39th minute, blasting an open 16-yard shot that tucked under the crossbar.

The Red Dragons pushed the lead to 4-2 on an "own goal" that came 5:23 before the half. After King denied a Cortland shot deep in the box, the ball rebounded off a Golden Knight player and into the goal.

In the second half, scoring opportunities diminished with Brandofino making four of his five saves without being seriously challenged and King recording a pair of stops. Overall, both goalkeepers made five saves.

Cortland finished with a 20-13 advantage in shots and an 8-4 edge in corner kicks.

Clarkson's next game will be on Wednesday when the Green and Gold play host to neighboring SUNY Canton in a 6:00 pm game.