POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y - Some late heroics from first-year Duncan Keker (Oakland, CA) gave the Vassar men's soccer team a crucial 1-0 victory over Clarkson on Friday afternoon. In a rough and defensive contest, Keker netted the lone goal at the 88th minute to move the Brewers to 9-2-1 and 3-1-1 in the Liberty League. Clarkson now falls to 3-7-2 and 1-4 in the conference.

The Golden Knights came to play and wanted to spoil the Vassar senior day festivities. Clarkson controlled the ball in the Brewers' territory and fired three shots on goal within the first ten minutes. Junior goalkeeper Eric Wnorowski (Mantoloking, NJ) made three impressive stops to keep the game scoreless.

The Vassar offense struggled early on, with Clarkson disrupting passing lanes and rarely allow a shot attempt. When the Brewers did manage a shot, it was heavily contested and not a clear look. Junior Kinlay Watkins (Berkeley, CA) worked one on-goal ball late in the half, but goalie Bryan Benitez turned it away.

The Brewers performed better in the second, but the Golden Knights nearly scored twice after the 70th minute. Zachary Appel's shot was turned aside by Wnorowski, but Clarkson collected the rebound. Joey White launched another ball at the goal, but the goalie wrapped it up this time. Then on a one-on-one, Clarkson's Josh Conklin kicked right down the middle but hit the Vassar crossbar instead.

Then at the 88th minute, Owen Fauth (Keene, NH) broke through two defenders on the right side of the Clarkson goal and crossed the ball to the front of the net. There Kyle Lopes (Santa Monica, CA) headed the ball back to Keker, who one-timed the ball into the right corner of the goal.

Clarkson had the slight 13-12 edge in shots, while Vassar went up 6-4 in corner attempts. Wnorowski made five saves, while Benitez recorded two.

IN addition, Vassar's seven seniors in Ethan Snyder (Albany, NY), Quinn Tunnell (Hershey, PA), Austin Lukasik (Jupiter, FL), Garrett Lusk (Arlington, VA), Nolan Alexander (San Francisco, CA), Eamon Geraghty (Oneonta, NY), and Andrew Goldsmith (Princeton, NJ) were honored before the game.

Vassar is back in action on Sat. Oct. 16 to host St. Lawrence at 2 p.m.