Worcester, Mass. – April 17, 2013 – Kevin Freeman recorded a game-high five points and helped the Springfield College men’s lacrosse team hold off upset-minded Clark, 10-7, on Wednesday evening in Pilgrim Lacrosse League play.

The victory brings Springfield’s record to 6-7, 4-0 in league play, while Clark falls to 7-5, 2-2.

The game started out slow and featured one goal in the first quarter – a Ryan Murphy strike off of a feed from Freeman nearly ten minutes into the contest.

Clark responded with the equalizer on a Peter Christiansen marker with help from Keegan Callahan 30 seconds into the second period.

Ryon Lynch answered back with a strong individual move that resulted in an unassisted tally less than a minute later.

The Cougars then scored back-to-back goals to take their first lead as Christiansen found a cutting Rob Holden for a score and then Jacob Maselek took a Jeffrey Wasson pass and found the back of the net, making the score 3-2 with 5:33 left in the half.

Springfield wasted little time knotting the score as Brendan Boss ripped a shot past Kevin Ranta igniting a stretch that saw the Pride record five straight goals spanning the second and third quarters.

Following BossÂ' score, Bryce Serriello gave the Pride a 4-3 halftime edge and then Tony LaGuerre scored to open the third period. Freeman then netted a pair less than a minute apart to give Springfield a seemingly comfortable 7-3 edge.

The Cougars, however, got a huge boost going into the fourth quarter when Christiansen battled through a pair of defenders and scored as the horn sounded to end the third period.

ClarkÂ's momentum carried through into the fourth as Wasson scored a man-up assisted goal with a little less than 12 minutes left. The Scarlet and White then pulled to within one at 7-6 when Christiansen scored again with a little more than ten minutes left to play.

Lynch gave the Pride a little breathing room when he was set up by Maxwell Wildes with 5:02 left.

The Cougars wouldnÂ't go away and less than a minute later Nick Figliola found Jon Spencer, who fired a rocket that whizzed past Springfield netminder Robert Maher, making the score 8-7 with 4:15 to play.

In the end, the Pride proved to be too much, getting insurance goals from Wildes and Freeman in the final two minutes to secure their 32nd consecutive regular season Pilgrim League victory.

Both goalies – Maher and Ranta – were fantastic in net, turning back 12 shots apiece.

Branden Fernandez dominated to faceoff spot, winning 17 of 19 battles and scooping up a game-best 14 groundballs.

Each team took advantage of special situations, with the two teams combining to go 5-for-9 on the man-advantage.

In addition to Lynch and Freeman’s five-point efforts, Murphy, Serriello and Wildes all had a goal and an assist. Christiansen, meanwhile, paced the Clark offensive attack with three goals and an assist and Wasson had two goals and one helper.

The Pride will now prepare for another important conference game as it travels to play rival Wheaton on Saturday at 2:00 pm.