Potsdam, NY – Senior Taylor Collins scored five points, scooped up five groundballs and nabbed six draws to help lead the Clarkson University Women's Lacrosse team to a season-opening win over crosstown rival SUNY Potsdam, 15-4, in non-league action Thursday afternoon at Hantz Turf Field.

The Golden Knights (1-0) are scheduled to take on SUNY Cortland on Saturday afternoon. SUNY Potsdam dropped to 1-2 on the season.

The two teams combined for five goals in less than six minutes to start the game, but only the Golden Knights were able to maintain the pace. In a stretch of only 110 seconds, Clarkson tacked on three more scores to take a 6-2 lead. When Potsdam scored at the 15:46 mark to make it 6-3, it was the Bears last goal for a stretch of over 42 minutes.

Like Potsdam, the Golden Knights also suffered through a cold stretch on offense, as the Knights would go 20 minutes in the first half without a score. However, when Jaid Baytos scored 30 seconds into a Bears penalty, the Knights would rediscover their offensive prowess. Clarkson closed the half with two goals, starting with Baytos's tally, in the final 2:31. Starting the second half, Clarkson would rack up five more goals in a stretch of 5:17, capped off by a goal from Katie Sergeant with 24:43 remaining in the half. Sergeant's score gave Clarkson a 10-goal advantage and ran the clock the rest of the way, with the Knights getting two goals from freshman Celia Fitzgerald down the stretch.

Collins led both teams with five points, scoring four goals and adding an assist, while junior Marisa Clark notched four points on a goal and three assists in her Clarkson debut. Baytos and Abby Collins also tallied three goals and Fitzgerald scored twice in the second half. Lexi Smith and Natalie Farnett also picked up three groundballs for the Knights, while Baytos added four draw controls to her stat line. For Potsdam, Cayla O'Connor scored three points on two goals and an assist while also adding in three groundballs and three draws. Danielle Pound led the Bears with four groundballs.

Clarkson finished with a 38-12 advantage in shots. The trio of Samantha Gladd, Carolyn Pechmann and Emily Fischer combined to make seven saves for the Golden Knights, with Gladd earning the win with three saves in the first 32 minutes. Katie Longamore was busy in the Potsdam crease, denying 18 shots.