Poughkeepsie, NY – A furious comeback in the fourth quarter came up short for the Clarkson University Men's Lacrosse team as the Golden Knights dropped a 10-9 decision to Vassar College in Liberty League action Saturday afternoon.

The Golden Knights fell to 2-8 overall and 0-3 in the Liberty League, while Vassar moved to 6-4 and 2-1. Clarkson will face St. Lawrence University at 7:00 pm on Wednesday.

Vassar scored the first two goals of the game and was up 3-1 after the opening quarter, but Vassar rallied with three straight goals to take a 4-3 lead with 3:13 to go when Sam Groves tallied a man-up goal in the second quarter. Vassar tied the score at 4-4 and never trailed again, scoring four times in the third period including a goal from Noah Parson with eight seconds left.

The Brewers held a 9-6 advantage five minutes into the fourth quarter, but Nate Smart sparked a Clarkson rally with a goal at 9:35. Ryan St. Croix scored 35 seconds later to pull the Knights to within one and then found the back of the net at the 3:07 mark to tie the score up 9-9. All of the momentum appeared to be on the side of the Golden Knights, but Pearson scored with just 71 seconds remaining to lift Vassar back up by one. Clarkson looked to be down and out, but a slashing penalty to Vassar's Brandon Destasio gave the Knights life with 20 seconds to go. St. Croix rifled a shot with six seconds left but the ball was stopped by Brewers' goalkeeper Brandon Crecco and Vassar held on for the win.

St. Croix scored five goals, with four coming in the second half, to lead the Knights. Ryan DaRin added a pair of goals while Smart and Groves each scored once. Groves also picked up three groundballs. Keith Mierzwa, Marc Simmons and Thomas Stanton each caused two turnovers, and Nicholas Lenta won 13 of his 21 tries on faceoffs, adding in four groundballs. Clarkson goalkeeper Nick Strandholm made 14 stops in the crease.

For Vassar, Noah Parson scored six points with four goals and two assists, while Destasio added two goals and two assists. James Thomas also scored twice and had three groundballs. Brandon Crecco made 24 saves for the Brewers.

Clarkson led in all categories but the one that counted most, leading Vassar in shots (42-31), groundballs (22-20), caused turnovers (8-6) and faceoffs won (15-8).