Saratoga Springs, NY – In stark contrast to last year's 32-goal slugfest, the Clarkson University Men's Lacrosse team's defense stood tall in all aspects of the game as the Golden Knights gained a come-from-behind 6-5 win over Skidmore College on Saturday afternoon.

The Golden Knights improved to 3-1 overall and 1-1 in the Liberty League, while the Thoroughbreds saw their record sink to 3-4 overall and 0-2 in conference games. Clarkson will head to SUNY Cortland on Wednesday to start another two-game streak against SUNYAC squads.

A solid start to the second half allowed the Golden Knights to turn a one-goal deficit into a three-goal lead as Clarkson ripped off four straight goals in a stretch of 7:22. Marcus Lavarnway's second goal of the game, coming at 7:24 in the third period, proved to be the game-winner.

Although the score at the end of the first period was tied at 2-2, Skidmore held advantages in shots (13-7), groundballs (11-8), and faceoffs (4-1). The Thoroughbreds gained the lead in the second quarter when Brendan Halloran found Jack Curry in close at 8:40, but that was the last that Skidmore would score for more than 33 minutes.

The Golden Knights took advantage of the Skidmore drought, scoring early with a man-up chance in the third to tie the game when Tanner Cioffi converted at 14:46. Sam Groves tallied just 46 seconds later and Conor Bartlett found twine at 10:07.

Skidmore ended its scoreless streak midway through the fourth quarter when Chris Melligon picked up his first goal of the game. Ian Maag pulled the Thoroughbreds to within one with 2:20 on the clock, but Ryan Gabriel won the next faceoff and Derek Beatty scooped up a groundball to let the Knights knock some ticks off the clock. Skidmore would regain possession for one more shot, but the attempt by Halloran went wide and the Knights rolled off the remaining seconds despite heavy pressure from the Thoroughbreds.

After going just 1-for-5 in the first quarter, Ryan Gabriel won seven of the last eight faceoffs in the final three quarters. Clarkson also won the battle of groundballs (35-29), and despite trailing in overall shot attempts to Skidmore (39-25), the Knights were much more particular in their attempts, putting 18 shots on the goal (68.0%) compared to the Thoroughbreds 14 (35.8%).

Colin Holt made nine saves on 14 shots on goal for the Knights, while Chris Baughan made 12 stops for Skidmore. Liam St. Croix, Mark Uhlig, and Thomas Stanton each had five groundballs and Michael Nourse contributed four groundballs and three caused turnovers.