A balanced attack led by sophomore Harrison Koch, who scored three goals, guided the No. 18 St. Lawrence University men's lacrosse team to an 11-7 win over the Clarkson Golden Knights in Liberty League play on Tuesday evening in Potsdam, New York.

Second to Koch, senior captain Jordan Dow netted two goals and assisted on another, while Mike Donnelly also added two goals for the Saints. Charlie Gallop, Conor Caffrey, Nick Brindisi and Brian Cunningham all tallied one goal each in the win. Sam Boehle picked up a team-high four ground balls, while Sam Sweeney and Tyler Burns each caused two turnovers.

Koch ran in from the top of Clarkson's defensive zone and ripped a shot past Golden Knight's goalkeeper Colin Holt to put the Saints up 1-0 with 2:10 to play in the first frame. Koch notched the Saints second goal of the game from the left side of the Clarkson net off a feed from his brother Peter Koch.

Sam Groves put the Golden Knights on the board about two minutes later bringing the score within one with 7:42 to play in the second frame.

Donnelly drove in from the right side and faked a Clarkson defenseman to net his 17th goal of the season and with less than a minute to play, Burns streaked the full length of the field down the left-hand sideline and found Donnelly right outside the crease to put the Saints up 4-1 on a man-down goal with 44 seconds to play.

After the break, Marcus Lavarnway closed gap to two goals after a shot to lower left corner past Saints' goalkeeper Alex Terry. Conor Bartlett, Clarkson's leading scorer, ripped a low-to-high shot to bring the game within a one-goal margin with 11:54 to play in the third.

Just about two minutes later, Bartlett scooped up the ground ball, found Terry outside the crease and recorded an empty-net goal to tie the game at four. With a spin move, Evan Burgett gave the Golden Knights their first lead of the game and a 5-4 advantage with just about seven minutes to play.

One minute later, Dow found Cunningham on Holt's doorstep to tie the game at five. Koch completed the hat trick to regain the lead for the Saints with 2:26 remaining.

Off the faceoff violation, only five seconds later, Zachary Ettinghausen darted into the attack zone, found Dow, who then scored with a diving shot past Holt.

Burgett added his second to the game to bring the score to 7-6, but the score still favored the Saints.

Caffrey opened up the fourth quarter by extending the Saints lead back to two. Not letting the Saints extend their lead any further, Burgett capitalized on a pass from Shane Kilday to bring the game back within one with just over 12 minutes remaining in regulation.

Caffrey then found Dow, who turned the corner and netted his second of the game and 22nd of the season. Gallop recorded his first goal of the season off the feed from Boehle.

Brindisi also picked up an empty-net goal, with Holt outside of the crease, to put the Saints up 11-7 with 1:08 remaining in regulation.

"Tonight was exactly what we expected," said head coach Mike Mahoney '93. We had to earn everything we got and I was very happy with our response after a slow start to the second half."

The Golden Knights were led by Burgett with three goals, while Bartlett added two goals and one assist. Lavarnway and Groves each netted one goal in the loss. Ryan Gabriel picked up eight ground balls and went 17-for-22 in the faceoff circle, while Groves and Michael Nourse each caused two turnovers.

Terry finished with five saves between the pipes for St. Lawrence, while Holt recorded eight saves in the loss.

St. Lawrence held a slight 29-27 shot advantage and capitalized on 1-for-2 man-up opportunities, while the Golden Knights picked up 28 ground balls to the Saints' 22.

Records - St. Lawrence (9-2, 5-1 LL), Clarkson (5-6, 2-3 LL)

Up Next –

The Saints hit the road to face Union in a Liberty League contest on Saturday, April 14th at 12 p.m.