Junior Lindsey Grigg (Watertown, NY) set a new Clarkson University Women’s Lacrosse record for career goals with two scores against Rensselaer, but the Golden Knights squandered a four-goal halftime lead to fall to the Red Hawks 9-8 in Liberty League action at Clarkson Field on Saturday afternoon.
The Knights’ leading scorer with 35 points this season, including 28 goals, Grigg now has a school-record 85 goals in 39 career games.
Clarkson made the most of its chances in the first half and shut down the Rensselaer offense with stingy defensive play to take a 7-3 lead after the opening 30 minutes. The Knights jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead just over three minutes into the game on goals by Grigg, Sophomore Lindsay Walker (Syracuse, NY) and freshman Emily Bojarski (Syracuse, NY).
The Red Hawks, however, were able to break through the Clarkson defense in the second half and out scored the Green and Gold 6-1 over the final 30 minutes to pull out the one-goal victory on the road.
Kerri Clark paced Rensselaer (4-8, 2-4 Liberty League) with two goals, including the game-winner, and one assist. Natalie White also scored twice.
Walker led Clarkson with two goals and one assist along with a game-high six groundballs. Sophomore Rachel Kopels (Queensbury, NY) also scored twice for the Knights. Sophomore Alicia Chace (Cortland, NY) added one goal.
Rensselaer began its second-half surge with goals by White and Kate Phillips in the opening six minutes of the period. Chace put Clarkson on top 8-5 with 22:45 left to play, but that would be the final goal for the Knights.
Clark came through with the deciding goal for the Red Hawks, an unassisted marker, with 6:50 left on the clock.
Rensselaer out shot Clarkson 37-27, but the Knights held a slight edge in groundballs, 28-26.
Junior Erin Duffy (Liverpool, NY) made 13 stops for Clarkson.
The Knights, at 4-8 overall and 0-7 in the Liberty League, play a non-conference game at Utica on Wednesday night before closing out the season with three home games, beginning with next Saturday’s match up with St. Lawrence.
