The Baltimore Ravens, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the Detroit Pistons all brought home titles due to their ability to shut down opposing offenses; when the Clarkson men’s lacrosse team pulled out a shocking 8-6 upset over the high-flying Red Hawks of Rensselaer in the UCAA tournament championship game at Harkness Field on May 9, it was the Golden Knight’s defense that earned them the crown.

Clarkson knocked off the tournament’s top seed, St. Lawrence, and the second-seeded Red Hawks to advance to the NCAA tournament.

The Golden Knights, who were slaughtered 13-7 by rival RPI in an April 10 UCAA contest, were a mere 7-7 coming into the contest, but Clarkson was a completely different team in this unusually low scoring title match up as they stifled nationally ranked Rensselaer’s potent offense.

Rensselaer outshot Clarkson 34-26 but it was for naught as Golden Knight goaltender Joe Zembroski made 14 saves, five of which came in the fourth quarter, en route to being named the UCAA tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.

The Golden Knight defensemen were also spectacular for Clarkson. They held their men close when off the ball forcing the RPI attackers into difficult one-on-one situations. RPI only had one assist in the game, from defenseman Corey Ingram.

Clarkson’s 2-0 lead after the first quarter and 4-2 advantage going into halftime allowed them to concentrate their efforts on an outstanding defensive performance.

The signs were negative for RPI, who entered the game with a 12-3 record. In each of the Red Hawks’ previous three losses the team had trailed at the half.

Entering the second half, Rensselaer attempted to stretch the field but the Golden Knights dug in on defense and were opportunistic on offense.

With RPI trying desperately to avoid a repeat of last year’s home loss to Skidmore in the UCAA tournament the Red Hawks left numerous holes in its defense. The gaps vacated by over-aggressive Rensselaer midfielders allowed Clarkson to match Rensselaer goal for goal.

After remaining two or three goals behind for most the game Rensselaer reduced the margin to one as Luc Ruglis made the score 7-6 with just 3:44 remaining in the contest.

Clarkson quickly crushed RPI’s momentum as Richard Burritt found Sean Pearce who delivered a strike past Rensselaer goalie Ryan Michels for the game’s final goal.

However, the most telling stat of the game was face-offs.

James Gallucci and the rest of the face-off squad had been crucial to gaining ball possession for the deadly RPI offense all season, but were outdone by Clarkson’s Corey O’Conner. The Golden Knights won 11 of 17 face-offs compared to just nine of 23 in their previous loss to the Red Hawks.

The painful defeat was an obvious disappointment for Rensselaer, who was heavily favored after Clarkson’s surprising upset of St. Lawrence. But as RPI head coach Tom Korrie said throughout the season, “it is about who’s playing the best in May.”

A loss to such a hated foe as Clarkson was salt in an open wound for RPI and especially to their six graduating seniors: Ingram, Ruglis, Gallucci, Jeff Hobbs, Mike Palombo, and Andrew Teichman.

The seniors were the only members of the 2004 squad that were present for RPI’s last trip to the NCAA in 2000.