Worcester, Mass. – Clark University had eight different players score a goal and the host Cougars withstood an incredible rally by Oneonta State to escape with a thrilling 8-7 win over the Red Dragons in a non-league men's lacrosse contest on Wednesday evening at the Granger Lacrosse Field.

The win for the Scarlet and White improves their record to 5-2 overall in advance of their New England Women's And Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) opener on Saturday. For Oneonta State, meanwhile, the loss is their second straight one goal loss and sends their record to 3-4.

A one-goal contest was the furthest thing from anyone's mind as Clark raced out to a 4-1 lead after the first period. The Cougars wasted little time getting on the scoreboard as Nick Johnson (Amherst, Mass.) fed Ian Daly (Wantagh, N.Y.) for a man-up goal just 3:09 into the contest.

Less than four minutes later, Rob Holden (East Longmeadow, Mass.) teamed up with Jack Goracy (Lumberton, N.J.) for Goracy's eighth marker of the year.

The Red Dragons cut into that lead when Hunter DeLuca found the back of the net midway through the period.

Clark closed out the frame with Johnson's team-leading 13th tally of the year and Will Mandracchia (Melrose, Mass.) helping Ryan Moore (West Hartford, Conn.) get his first.

The Cougars' lead ballooned to 7-1 in the second with three straight goals beginning with an unassisted score from the surging Andrew Myhre (Middlebury, Vt.). Keegan Callahan (Tewksbury, Mass.) connected with Peter Christiansen (Seattle, Wash.) to keep the Clark momentum going and then less than two minutes later Goracy set up Alex Turgeon (Holden, Mass.) to cap the first half Cougar scoring.

Oneonta ended the half on an upswing as Andrew Sehres scored to make the game 7-2 at intermission, but the Scarlet and White looked to be reasserting themselves after Holden netted a score early in the third, but that tally with 11:21 left in the quarter wound up being Clark's last score of the game.

The Red Dragons potted four goals in the final 9:11 of the third beginning with Connor Coyle's first goal of the contest. Exactly a minute later Austin McKaskill assisted on a Taylor Kalbacher strike, making the score, 8-4.

Things tightened dramatically as the period came to a close with Nathan Doody getting two unassisted goals 40 seconds apart to get Oneonta within two at 8-6 entering the fourth.

Neither team could muster much offense in the final stanza and for the Red Dragon offense that was largely due to the excellent work between the pipes by Clark netminder Drew Riopelle-Tyrrell (Northville, Mich.). He turned aside seven of his 16 shots in the final 15 minutes, including several point-blank stops.

Coyle finally cracked the code and got a shot past Riopelle-Tyrrell, making the score 8-7 with 2:11 left.

After the teams combined to commit three turnovers following the ensuing faceoff, Oneonta found themselves in possession with under a minute to play. Doddy worked his way in close but his shot was turned back by Riopelle-Tyrrell, preserving the one-goal advantage and the win.

The Red Dragons actually held an advantage in shots, 38-29 and were fantastic at the faceoff "X" where Anthony Laureano went 13-for-17.

Clark, meanwhile, had a 41-34 edge in groundballs led by Riopelle-Tyrrell's game-high 13. The Cougars' man-down defense continued to shine, holding Oneonta to 0-for-3 on their man advantage, improving their season total to 6-for-27 (22 percent).

In addition to his goal, Goracy handed out a game-best three assists for the Scarlet and White who also got a game-best four caused turnovers from Patrick Burke (New Canaan, Conn.).

Both Coyle and Doddy each had two goals for Oneonta while netminder Ryan Adler settled down in the second half and registered 12 saves and a team-best nine groundballs.

The Cougars return to the field on Saturday with a road trip to league rival Wheaton at 1:00 p.m. while the Red Dragons open up SUNYAC play at Oswego State.