With a hard-earned 7-5 victory on the road at conference foe Hamilton College on Saturday afternoon, the Clarkson University Lacrosse team ran its current winning streak to five games and in the process clinched a berth in the upcoming Liberty League playoffs.

Junior Bryan Huff (Hillsborough, NJ) and sophomore Kyle Kasprzyk (Orchard Park, NY) led a balanced Golden Knight offensive effort with four (1-3) and three (2-1) points, respectively, while classmate Ryan Cole (Orchard Park, NY) continued his strong play in the Clarkson net with an 11-save outing.

Clarkson stands at 8-4 overall and is perfect in conference play with a 4-0 Liberty League mark. The Knights return to action next Saturday, April 23 when they host Union College in the final regular season game at Hantz Turf Field.

Hamilton (7-3, 1-3) grabbed the early lead in Saturday’s game by scoring first, but Clarkson answered back with three straight goals to hold a 3-1 lead late in the second period. The Continentals put up the final two tallies in the half to knot the game at 3-3 after 30 minutes.

After trading goals to start the third quarter, the Knights took the lead for good with back-to-back scores by Kasprzyk and senior Mitch Collins (Baldwinsville, NY) to go on top 6-4 with 1:13 remaining in the third. Hamilton scored with just seven seconds left in the quarter to make it a one-goal-game, 6-5, through 45 minutes.

In a bid to tie the game in the fourth quarter, the Continentals outshot the Green and Gold 8-6, but Cole came up big with five saves over the final 15 minutes to shutdown the home team. Huff scored the only goal in the final frame to give Clarkson a two-goal cushion.

Hamilton held a 30-24 advantage in shots and controlled groundballs 25-17.

Collins, senior Tyler Long (Liverpool, NY), junior Eric Gollands (Chelmsford, MA) and sophomore John Devine (Orchard Park, NY) all scored one goal for Clarkson.

Hamilton’s Jon Leanos led all scorers with three goals.

Junior Matt Davidson (Hilton, NY) paced another strong defensive effort for the Knights with four caused turnovers. Cole picked up a game-high five groundballs.