POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - Despite a late second-half surge by the homestanding Brewers, Clarkson University held on with a key late goal and a 12-9 Liberty League men's lacrosse victory at Gordon Field on Wednesday afternoon. The win moves the Golden Knights to 3-4 overall and 1-1 in league play, while Vassar slips to 0-2 overall and in the conference standings.

Clarkson set the tone early in the opening quarter graduate student attack Pierce Currie and senior attack Jay Considine combined for the game's first tally at 8:17. Currie then assisted on a Matt Reilly goal, while Considine picked up his second assist of the afternoon on a score by senior defender Tyler King at the 5:02 mark. The Knights added their final goal with just eight seconds left in the frame as junior midfielder Billy Bergan slammed one home.

Vassar responded to open the second quarter as sophomore midfielder James Nicholas scored down the middle at 14:04. Considine picked up his third assist, this time on a goal from graduate student attack Conor Bartlett for a 5-1 edge, but sophomore attack Maximus Albanese combined with Nicholas to close the gap to three (5-2) at 3:49. Clarkson sophomore attack Sebastian Geiger closed out the first half scoring to give the visitors a 6-2 led through the first 30 minutes of action.

Currie got things going for Clarkson in the third stanza, connecting with Considine once again for a 7-2 advantage at 12:26. The Brewers battled back beginning with a Riley Olds goal from Nicholas at 10:55. Junior midfielder Connor Deehan closed the gap to 7-4, while back-to-back goals from freshman attack Troy Santise and Albanese eventually made it an 8-6 game at 5:51 of the third. Clarkson answered as Currie netted his third goal to close out the frame for a 9-6 score through three.

In the final quarter, Vassar struck first with Deehan scoring on the man-up off a nice pass from senior midfielder Michael Killion. Goals from Geiger and Currie followed to push Clarkson's lead to 11-7, but Vassar gained momentum over the final 5:48 as Deehan and Killion connected once again, followed by an Olds from Albanese tally to cut the gap to 11-9 with 3:14 on the clock. Clarkson took advantage of a late penalty on the Brewers as Bartlett scored their 12th and final goal with just 45 seconds to play.

Currie led the way for Clarkson with three goals and two assists. He also added four ground balls and two caused turnovers. Geiger posted three goals, while Bartlett had two goals, two assist, three ground balls and a caused turnover. Freshman defender Matt Szwagulinski recorded a game-high three caused turnovers, while sophomore midfielder Matthew Hansen paced the effort in ground balls with eight. In goal, senior Kevin Dyckman earned the victory with nine saves while also recording three ground balls.

For Vassar, Albanese paced the effort with two goals and two assists. He also added three ground balls. Deehan added three tallies, while Olds had two tallies. Senior defender Stefan Fleps and sophomore defender Dillon Dierman each recorded two caused turnovers, while Dierman paced the way with six ground balls. Sophomore goalie Aidan Gallagher recorded 12 saves for the Brewers, yielding the final 45 seconds to sophomore Jack Bagin, who did not make any stops.

Vassar returns to action on Saturday when it travels to Union for a 2pm tilt against the Dutchmen. Clarkson is back in action on Monday with a non-conference tilt at SUNY Potsdam at 7pm.