Potsdam, NY - After the first five shots missed the net, the next three shots by Hobart found the back of the goal as the Statesmen defeated the Clarkson University Men's Soccer team 4-2 in Liberty League action Saturday afternoon at Clarkson Field.
The Golden Knights dropped to 3-8-2 overall and 0-5-1 in the Liberty League while Hobart improved to 9-2-2 and 3-1-2, clinching a post-season berth in the process. Clarkson closes out the conference slate tomorrow when it faces Hamilton at 1 pm.
Hobart controlled the play early on, but couldn't get any of its offensive opportunities on the goal in the first 20 minutes. That finally changed when Justin Dotzman flicked in a groundball off a pass from San Wisner at 20:05. It was the beginning of an impressive run of goal scoring as the Statemen tallied two more goals in the next five minutes. Hobart scored again at 22:06 when Clarkson goalkeeper Johnathon Rushing (Paw Paw, MI) dove over the shot by Wisner, and Tyler Webster then blasted a shot at 25:16 from about 15 yards away to make it 3-0 Hobart.
The scoring pace slowed from that point, but the two teams exchanged more shots over the course of the next fifty minutes prior to Hobart's fourth goal. Webster took a corner kick for the Statesmen at 74:23 and Rushing came to make the stop but the kick deflected off his hands and inside the post for a 4-0 lead.
Clarkson made a comeback in the final 10 minutes to make the game close, but it was too little too late. At 81:44, Brett Laudermilch (Lebanon, PA) took a direct kick from about 40 yards out and it was headed in by the Statesmen for an own goal to make the score 4-1. Then, with just 28 seconds remaining, Seni Makinde (Hyde Park, MA) bounced a deflected shot in to the corner. Freshman Francis Dayamba (Albany, NY) took the initial shot from about 10 yards away which was stopped by Pete Van Dellon, but the rebound came to Makinde who cut the lead to two goals.
Hobart out shot Clarkson 17-8 and also held a 5-4 edge in corner kicks. Van Dellon made four saves for the Statesmen. Johnathon Rushing stopped six shots in 77 minutes for Clarkson before Mike St. Croix (Watertown, NY) came on to finish off the game. St. Croix did not have to make a save in his time in the game.
