Oneonta, NY - With five goals on five shots, freshman Corey Herrington (Camillus, NY) certainly made an impressive first impression for the Clarkson University Men's Lacrosse team as the Golden Knights kicked off the 2012 season with a 16-9 victory over Oneonta State Saturday afternoon.

The Knights combined solid defense and a steady offense to jump on the Red Dragons early. Clarkson led after the first quarter, 4-0, thanks to goals from Eric Gollands (Chelmsford, MA) and Herrington in the first five minutes of the contest. Senior Bryan Huff (Hillsborough, NJ) tacked on two goals in the final five minutes for Clarkson.

It wasn't until the 12:08 mark of the second quarter that Oneonta State would get on the scoreboard, but back-to-back goals from Kyle Kasprzyk (Orchard Park, NY) exactly a minute apart lifted the Knights to a 7-1 lead. From that point on, Clarkson would hold at least a four-goal advantage for the remainder of the contest as Clarkson would open the third quarter with six of the first eight goals. Though Oneonta would make a late run in the middle of the fourth quarter with three straight goals, by that point the Knights enjoyed a significant enough advantage that it was too little too late.

Herrington had five goals on five shots and also kicked in four groundballs to lead the Knights. Kasprzyk tallied three goals, while Gollands, Huff and Brendon Shearin (Goffstown, NH) each scored twice. Freshman Matt Gold (Pittsford, NY) scored once and assisted on another goal, and Ryan Esposito (Nanuet, NY) rounded out the Clarkson goal scoring. Matt McCabe (Syracuse, NY), Kane Henderson (West Linn, OR), Tim Krauss (Niskayuna, NY), Jeff Sciera (DeWitt, NY), and Corey Flanigan (Rochester, NY) also added one assist apiece.

Defensively for the Knights, Jack Keenan (Brasher Falls, NY) led the team with seven groundballs, along with winning 10 faceoffs. Shane Farrell (Webster, NY) contributed four groundballs as well.

Ryan Cole (Orchard Park, NY) started in goal for the Knights, making 16 saves in 51 minutes, 25 seconds, before being relieved by Pat Briggs (Baldwinsville, NY) for the final 8:35. Briggs made two stops in his appearance.

For Oneonta, Chris Miles made 16 saves in the Red Dragons net, while Daniel Stern (3 goals, 1 assist), John Deordio (2 goals, 1 assist), and Nick Sorrillo (2 goals) led the offense.

Clarkson will open the home portion of its schedule on Wednesday, March 7th, when it hosts Norwich.