Potsdam, NY – With two goals in the opening four minutes, Bard College looked like it might end its winless drought in the Liberty League, but the Clarkson University Women’s Lacrosse team scored the next 15 goals en route to a 19-4 rout of the Raptors Friday afternoon at Hantz Turf Field.

The Golden Knights improved to 6-8 overall and 2-6 in the Liberty League, tying its single-season mark for victories in a season, while the Raptors dropped to 5-10 overall and 0-8 in conference contests. Clarkson will close out the regular season against Vassar College on Saturday, while Bard will travel to play St. Lawrence.

The Raptors scored a pair of goals early, taking the lead at 27:08 and a two-goal advantage at 26:13, but after those two scores it was all Clarkson. Saryn Campbell (West Bolton, VT) won the next two draws and came down to tally unassisted goals for the Knights as Clarkson produced six goals in less than five minutes to take a 6-2 lead and force a Bard timeout. The momentary cease in play didn’t stop Clarkson’s onslaught as the Knights were able to possess the ball for the majority of the half, despite not scoring for the final 10-plus minutes. The Knights held a 25-7 edge in shots in the second half and won 10 of the 13 draws.

In the second half, Clarkson scored the first five goals to take a 15-2 lead with just seven minutes expired from the clock, but Bard finally stopped the barrage with a goal at 21:01. Three more Clarkson goals made the score 18-3 midway through the half, at which point the pace of play stalled and just two more goals were split among the teams.

Junior Alyssa Cristaldi (North Syracuse, NY) scored six times and assisted on one other to lead Clarkson with seven points, while Campbell added four goals, four groundballs and eight draw controls. Junior Nicole Kelly (Syracuse, NY) had four points on two goals and two assists, and freshman Cassie Grace (Potsdam, NY) scored a pair of goals as well. Junior Katie VanDeValk (Baldwinsville, NY) also produced three points with a goal and two assists in addition to gaining five draw controls.

Hannah Walters (Amherst, NH) made five saves and allowed three goals in 51 minutes of play, while Kara DiNatale (Auburn, NH) made three saves in eight-plus minutes of action for Clarkson. The victory was awarded to Walters, the 17th in her career at Clarkson, which sets her apart with the most goalie wins in program history.

Simone Leitner made nine saves for Bard, allowing all 19 goals over the course of the 60 minutes. Stephanie LaMont scored twice for the Raptors, and Reed Mango and Victoria Fleisher each scored once.

Clarkson held a 36-16 advantage in shots and gained control early by winning 19 of the 25 draws. The two teams were nearly even in groundballs, with the Knights leading 19-13.