Despite a slow start that saw the team nearly go scoreless in the first quarter, the Clarkson University Men's Lacrosse team opened up its offense on Saturday afternoon, gaining a 14-9 conference win over Skidmore College at Hantz Field. The Golden Knights improved to 4-8 on the season and moved to 2-4 in Liberty League contests, while Skidmore fell to 1-5 and 0-5 on the year. Clarkson had plenty of chances in the first quarter, rifling off 17 shots in the first 15 minutes, but only six were on the cage and one found its way into the netting when Matt Reilly scored with only 12 seconds to go in the period. After a quick goal to start the second quarter, Skidmore led 4-1, but lead quickly evaporated as Pierce Currie and Conor Bartlett combined for three goals in a stretch of less than three minutes midway through the period. By the end of the second quarter, Clarkson had gained its first lead and had a modest 7-6 advantage at the break. Things remained close through the third quarter, but at the start of the fourth the Knights began to pull away. Junior Billy Bergan scored two goals in less than a minute to put the Knights up 12-8, and Conor Bartlett scored once and found Jay Considine for another to give Clarkson a six-goal advantage. A late score from Skidmore in the waning moments was all that the Thoroughbreds could muster in the fourth as Clarkson controlled possession for most of the period. Conor Bartlett scored six points on five goals and an assist, surpassing both the 100-goal mark and 200-point mark for his career in the process. He also contributed six groundballs and caused four turnovers for an overwhelming all-around effort. Jay Considine was nearly as busy, scoring four points on three goals and an assist with five groundballs and four caused turnovers. Pierce Currie scored a pair of goals and added an assist, while Matt Reilly (1-1-2), Billy Bergan (2-0-2), Matt Corbett (0-2-2), and Bryan Penney (0-2-2) each had multi-point games. Matthew Hansen won 15 of 22 face-off attempts and had seven groundballs and both Matt Szwagulinski and Shane Boehmcke had four groundballs and two caused turnovers apiece. Tyler King also tossed in two caused turnovers and scooped up three groundballs. Kevin Dyckman made nine saves in the win. For Skidmore, Charlie McFadden scored four goals and Jason Shlonsky had four points with a pair of goals and two assists. John Sveen also had five groundballs for the Thoroughbreds. Clarkson finished with a 69-30 edge in shots, including a 33-18 lead in shots on goal, and won 18 of 26 face-offs with a 40-24 advantage in groundballs.