Rochester, NY – After scoring three times in the third quarter to pull within striking distance of seventh-ranked RIT, the Clarkson University Men’s Lacrosse team’s offense was held silent as the opponents ran off five straight goals to eliminate the Golden Knights from the Liberty League playoffs, 12-4, Friday afternoon at RIT Field.

The Golden Knights concluded their season with a record of 9-6 overall, while RIT, the regular-season champion, improves to 13-2 and advances to the conference championship game.

As it happened in the first meeting between the two teams, the Tigers jumped out in front in the first quarter while shutting out the Golden Knights. RIT held a 2-0 advantage after the first 15 minutes and held a 12-7 edge in shots and a 9-3 lead in shots on goal. Though the Knights were held without a score, the team trailed by just two and its defense was making things difficult for the Tigers on the offensive end.

Clarkson finally got on the scoreboard late in the second period when freshmen Matt Gold (Pittsford, NY) and Corey Herrington (Camillus, NY) teamed up with 2:12 remaining. Unfortunately, the Tigers had expanded their lead to 6-1 with a steady offense that was producing a goal once every four minutes. However, the third period was more on Clarkson’s side as the Knights made a solid run to get back into the game. Gold and Herrington repeated with a man-up goal early in the frame and senior midfielder Eric Gollands (Chelmsford, MA) scored a pair of goals just 57 seconds apart to make the score 7-4.

The three-goal differential would be as close as Clarkson would get, though, as RIT scored five times in less than three minutes midway through the fourth quarter, ending any hope of a Knight come-from-behind victory.

Clarkson goaltender Ryan Cole (Orchard Park, NY) made 16 saves in just over 53 minutes of action before being relieved by Pat Briggs (Baldwinsville, NY), who wasn’t called upon to make a save in the final seven minutes. Gollands and Gold each had two goals, while Herrington added two assists to his team-leading total.

For RIT, Brendan MacDonald had three goals and an assist and the Liberty League Player of the Year Tyler Russell added three goals. Kyle Aquin also had two goals and an assist.

Defensively, Brian Freeland (East Berlin, CT) led Clarkson with four groundballs, and Matt Davidson (Hilton, NY) and Dylan Caldiero (Buffalo, NY) each had three groundballs. PJ Hart led RIT with five groundball pickups.

The Tigers led in all of the team categories, holding an edge in shots (36-30), shots on goal (28-20), groundballs (40-28) and faceoffs (15-5).