Senior Tommy Hovey scored his 39th goal of the season as a Clarkson penalty expired in the third period to give St. Lawrence University's men's lacrosse team a two-goal lead over the arch-rival Golden Knights and SLU went on to a 8-6 win in a Liberty League game at Hall-Leet Stadium Wednesday afternoon.

The Saints improve to 9-6 overall and 5-1 in the Liberty League clinching a league tournament spot heading into a game at national number one and Liberty League leader RIT, 15-0, 6-0 on Saturday. Clarkson 6-7 and 3-3 in league play is tied with RPI for the fourth and final playoff spot and hosts Bard on Saturday. The Saints will be making their 11th post-season tournament appearance in the 12-year history of the league.

Clarkson goalie Nick Strandholm kept his team in the game, making 18 saves, several of them spectacular ones as the Saints had an overall 44-22 edge in shots attempted and a 26-13 margin in shots on goal.

"It was a typical Clarkson-St. Lawrence rivalry game," said Saint coach Mike Mahoney. "Both teams played extra hard and their goalie had an exceptional game. Our guys hung in there and made the plays we needed down the stretch."

The Saints grabbed an early 5-2 lead, but Strandholm and the post denied some great scoring chances and the Knights battled back into it. Hovey's 38th of the season put the Saints up 5-2 with 4:28 to go in the quarter, but Ryan St. Croix scored his 25th of the year for Clarkson with 2:57 to play and Ryan DaRin scored his 16th with 1:08 to go to make it a 5-4 game after one.

Strandholm stuffed everything that came his way in the second quarter, making seven saves and St. Croix scored his second of the game with 5:51 to go in the half as the two teams hit intermission tied at 5-5.

Saint senior middie Charlie Jennings scored his 10th of the year to put the Saints back on top 1:22 into the second half and Hovey made it a two-goal Saint lead as he scored a man-up goal exactly a minute after Clarkson's only penalty of the game, converting from Jeremy Vautour before the penalized player could retake the field.

Matthew Gold cut the Saint lead to 7-6 with 9:31 to go in regulation, but the Saints worked the clock and got a big goal from junior middie Charlie Duprey with 2:15 to play to give them a two-goal cushion.

"I thought our faceoff unit had an excellent day…" Mahoney added. The Saints won 13 of 18 draws in the game, the bulk of them by Alec Dietsch and had a 18-11 edge in ground balls. Jack Roberts and Steel White were key contributors on defense, Roberts with three caused turnovers and White with two. Goalie Nick Ford won his fourth of the year with seven saves.

"I am really proud of our guys, coming off an emotional loss on Saturday. They got right back on the horse and competed hard from start to finish today," Mahoney said.