POTSDAM, N.Y. – John Countryman's five goals helped lead The College at Brockport men's lacrosse team past Clarkson University on Saturday, 10-9.
 
The Golden Eagles improve to 1-1 on the young season while the Golden Knights fall to 1-1 on the year.
 
The contest was tightly contested throughout, with both squads taking their turn with the lead. After a Brockport penalty, Clarkson took advantage of a man-up opportunity to score the lone goal of the first period.
 
The Golden Eagles offense got things going in the second, with a goal in the first minute of play after Liam Cannon buried a Casey Cleary set up. Less than 20 seconds later, the Green and Gold scored again, this time Jake Giudice found and opening, giving Brockport a narrow 2-1 edge.
 
The scoring continued in the second period, with a pair of Golden Knight goals to make the count 3-2 with 10:30 to play. John Countryman netted his first goal at the eight-minute mark, netting a Colin Blind pass to knot the score at 3-3.
 
Brockport saw their counterparts score another pair of goals, but Countryman had the final word on the half, this time off a Brendan Fitzgerald feed to cut the Golden Eagle deficit to 5-4 at the midway point.
 
In the second half, Countryman picked up right where he left off, this time using a man-up opportunity to even the count at 5-5. The third period would see a pair of Golden Knight scores, as the Green and Gold headed into the final quarter trailing 7-5.
 
The Golden Eagle offense heated up in the final period of play, with the Green and Gold firing off four unanswered scores to start the quarter. Giudice worked in a pair of shots, with Countryman adding another and Joe Mikiciuk getting into the scoring column, to make the count 9-7 with 6:04 to play.
 
With another Clarkson goal, the eventual go ahead score from Countryman with 2:21 to play was crucial for the Golden Eagles, giving the Green and Gold a 10-8 edge. The Golden Knights worked in a final goal, but it wasn't enough, as the Golden Eagles secured the 10-9 win.
 
The contest was close in every category, with Brockport edging their counterparts on shots, 34-33 and shots on goal, 25-20. The Green and Gold picked up 35 ground balls to Clarkson's 25, and picked up 14 faceoff wins.
 
Countryman led the Golden Eagles offense with five goals. Giudice added three, with Cannon and Mikiciuk each netting a score each.  Cleary dished out two assists on the day, with Giudice, Blind, Michael Gallagher and Fitzgerald each picking up an assist.
 
On the defensive side, Blind and Steve Gurin each had five caused turnovers, with Blind adding five ground balls. Zach Cook, who picked up 13 faceoff wins, also came up with nine ground balls in the outing.
 
The Golden Eagles will be back in action on March 8, when they take on Rochester rivals, St. John Fisher College in East Rochester, N.Y.
 
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