POTSDAM, N.Y.—Clarkson University (4-4) broke a 4-4 tie in the third quarter en route to an 8-4 victory over the SUNY Potsdam men's lacrosse team (4-3) on Tuesday afternoon at Hantz Field. Bears junior goalie Pete Gropp (Fairport, N.Y./Fairport) made a career-high 20 saves and sophomore attackman Berkley Stone (Madison, Conn./Daniel Hand) scored twice. Corey Herrington scored three goals for the Golden Knights and Matthew Gold added a goal and two assists.
 
Reigning SUNYAC Player of the Week, freshman Eric Soderquist (Watertown, N.Y./Watertown) got Potsdam on the board first with an unassisted marker at 8:33. Two minutes later Gold tied the score with a man-up goal. With 43 seconds left in the opening quarter, Herrington found the back of the net to make it 2-1 Clarkson.
 
Herrington notched his second of the day on the man-advantage at 7:17 of the second 15 minutes. Just 42 seconds later, Bears senior captain Jon Woodworth (Great Bend, N.Y./Carthage) broke Potsdam's drought to close the gap to 3-2. Herrington completed his hat trick at 4:32. It looked as if the Bears would head into the break down two, but Stone struck on a feed from junior captain Pat Bonafede (Churchville, N.Y./Churchville-Chili) with seven seconds left.
 
Woodworth set up Stone four and a half minutes into the third quarter and the game was even at 4-4. Clarkson outshot the Bears 14-4 in the quarter, but Gropp turned aside 11 of the Golden Knights' attempts. However, Dylan Hrebenach scored what proved to be the game-winner at 9:33. Clarkson led 5-4 after 45 minutes.
 
The Golden Knights scored three times in the first seven and a half minutes of the fourth quarter. Ryan St. Croix struck at 14:12, Mark Nortz at 13:38 and Mark Uhlig closed the scoring at 8:35. Potsdam was unable to gain any ground after the run.
 
Clarkson goalie Nick Strandholm made 11 saves to earn the victory.
 
The Golden Knights outshot the Bears 37-23 and picked up 34 ground balls to Potsdam's 26. The Bears were 0-for-2 in extra-man opportunities and Clarkson was 2-for-5.
 
With his performance, Gropp now leads the SUNYAC in goals-against-average (5.70) and save percentage (.692)
 
The Bears look to bounce back tomorrow night at 7 p.m. when they head to SUNY Canton to take on the Kangaroos.