PRINCE ATHLETIC COMPLEX – The University of Rochester lacrosse team used a big run in the third quarter and held off a tough Clarkson University squad, earning a key 17-12 Liberty League victory on Saturday afternoon at Edwin Fauver Stadium.
 
The win pushes Rochester's record to 8-5 overall on the season and 3-3 in the Liberty League. The Yellowjackets are now in the top-6 in the conference standings with four games left on the schedule, all of which are league contests.
 
Clarkson's loss falls the Golden Knights to 7-7 overall and 2-5 in Liberty League play.
 
Saturday's contest started out quick with both teams scoring on the first three shots of the contest. Alyssa Gorny and Gracie Giannettino notched the goals for UR and Madelynn Barnum scored for Clarkson and Rochester had the early 2-1 lead.
 
After the Golden Knights knotted the score at two, Brooke Fiannaca tallied a goal with a player advantage late in the quarter off a feed from Lucy Haggerty and the Yellowjackets were up 3-2 after the opening quarter.
 
The second quarter was a series of runs, with Rochester getting goals from Grace Crochiere and Giannettino to go up by a pair. Clarkson rattled off three straight goals, with Lauren Shanahan factoring in all three to pull even at 5-5 before the Yellowjackets Crochiere notched two straight scores to close the period and put the home team up 7-5 at halftime.
 
During the third quarter, the two schools alternated goals for the first five minutes, with Clarkson pulling within one following Chrissy Benedict's tally with 9:57 left in the period.
 

It was all Rochester the rest of the quarter, as the Yellowjackets found the back of the net four times to surge ahead 13-8 after three. Gorny scored twice and Emma Little and Crochiere each added goals for UR in the run.
 
Emily Geiss made three saves over the final ten minutes of the period and finished the day with eight.
 
Little notched another goal for Rochester under two minutes into the fourth, putting the Yellowjackets up six at 14-8, but Clarkson began to rally shortly after.
 
Three straight Golden Knights goals from the free position cut the lead to three with 11:08 remaining. Brooklynne Perrigo added a goal a couple minutes later for Clarkson and Rochester's lead was trimmed to just two.
 
Rochester secured the next draw control, but after a shot was blocked, Clarkson regained possession looking to cut the deficit to one, but UR's Little made a great anticipation play on defense, intercepting a pass and sending the ball back the other way for Rochester.
 
On the other end, the Yellowjackets' Fiannaca made a great move in close by the goal and added a key insurance tally, making the score 15-12 UR.
 
After the key goal, Rochester's defense stiffened, with Christiana Ciaccio and Abbey Smith causing Clarkson turnovers. The Yellowjackets Crochiere added her fifth goal of the day with just over a minute to play and Gorny notched her fifth to beat the buzzer, scoring with just two seconds on the clock to reach the final score of 17-12.
 
Crochiere's five goals set a new career-high and added 6 draw controls, 3 ground balls and 2 caused turnovers.
 
Haggerty finished with five assists, matching her career-high and tying the UR single-game record. With her five helpers, Haggerty also moved into second place on Rochester's single-season assist chart with 28.
 
Little did terrific work in the midfield, finishing with 8 draw controls, 2 goals and 2 caused turnovers.
 
Defensively, Ciaccio finished with two caused turnovers and four ground balls, while Smith matched her for the team-high with four ground balls.
 
Rochester is right back in action on Sunday afternoon in another league contest, hosting Bard at 1 pm.