Box Score | LGR! Golf Tournament (May 8)

TROY, N.Y. - Seniors Ryan DaRin and Ryan St. Croix both scored four times to lead the Clarkson University men's lacrosse team to a 15-11 victory over No. 20 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in the regular season finale for both teams. The Golden Knights improve to 9-5 overall and 4-3 in the Liberty League, qualifying for the conference's four-team, post-season tournament. The Engineers conclude their season with records of 10-5 and 3-4.

Clarkson jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a pair of goals from DaRin (Manlius, NY / Fayetteville-Manlius), an attack, but RPI tied the game on tallies by Lucas Bastarache (Wayland, MA / Wayland) and Jake Weidner (Chula Vista, CA / Otay Ranch). 

The two teams traded the next five goals with the fifth starting a three-goal streak in a 1:05 span for the visitors. St. Croix (Camillus, NY / West Genesee) scored on a run down the right side, Mark Uhlig (Castleton, NY / LaSalle Institute) tallied on a bouncing shot from in front and Kyle Brown (Cazenovia, NY / Cazenovia) found the back of the net on a shot that was partially blocked for a 7-4 lead at 5:04 of the second quarter.

RPI freshman Owen Putman (Ballston Lake, NY / Shenendehowa) buried a shot on an assist from Quinn Fettig (Bend, OR / Bend) off the ensuing faceoff, but the Golden Knights go the final two goals of the half, including another from Brown, for a 9-5 lead at the break.

DaRin had three first half goals and Shane Kilday (Westford, MA / Westford Academy) added two with an assist for Clarkson, which held a 26-16 edge in shots and 12-10 advantage in ground balls. RPI had five different goal scorers.

The Engineers came out in the third quarter and scored four of the first five goals in the frame to pull to within 10-9. Weidner, a senior, ripped a shot past the goalie's head from five yards out, Will Killeen (Islip, NY / Islip) followed a St. Croix goal with a fast break tally, Jacob Shavel (Lawrenceville, NJ / Princeton Day) scored after backing in and shooting and senior Breanainn McNeally (Severna Park, MD / Archbishop Spalding) finished a JT Kelly (Acton, MA / Acton-Boxborough) feed on the man-up.

RPI, which found itself trailing by only one at 7:56 of the third quarter, had several opportunities with the ball down by just a goal, but was unable to knot the game. DaRin eventually scored again, his 42nd of the season, for an 11-9 lead with 1:09 remaining in the quarter.

McNeally and Kelly connected just 1:19 into the fourth quarter to pull RPI back to within one goal (11-10), but Clarkson scored the next four over six minutes for a 15-10 lead. Two of the goals came from St. Croix, who now has 30 goals on the season. Zach Lukas (Longmeadow, MA / Longmeadow) finished a McNeally feed with 3:58 to play for the final margin.

RPI was led by McNeally's (2 goals, 1 assist) and Kelly's (1 goal, 2 assists) three points. Weidner finished with two goals and classmate David Gibbs (Stony Brook, NY / Ward Melville) made 14 saves in the losing effort.

DaRin had four goals on 10 shots (7 on goal) with two ground balls, while St. Croix took 11 shots (5 on goal) with two pickups. Freshman Ryan Gabriel (Homer, NY / Homer) had a game-high six ground balls while winning 18 of 30 faceoffs. Tim St. Croix (Camillus, NY / West Genesee) made seven saves to earn the win in relief.

Clarkson held a 48-33 lead in shots and a 33-26 edge in ground balls. The Golden Knights were 16 of 17 on clears, while RPI was 10 of 17.