On Wednesday night, following a spring scrimmage between the nearby rivals’ respective women’s volleyball squads, the 21st-ranked Georgia men’s lacrosse team was in the Palmetto State, at the club fields by the shores of Lake Hartwell, to take on No. 12 Clemson, who, evidently unimpaired after spending spring break in Boulder, Colo., had claimed a second straight SELC North East Division crown with a reportedly rowdy win over South Carolina last weekend that ran the Country Gentlemen’s winning streak to five in a row. That victory skein was stopped at Clemson, S.C., earlier this evening, when Georgia carded a commanding triumph in a significant showdown.

The Bulldogs got the scoring underway with twelve minutes to play in the first quarter. The Tigers tied it up at one goal per side, but the Red and Black scored twice more to build up at 4-1 lead at the end of the opening period. In the match’s second stanza, Orange and Purple senior attacker Will Patch notched his second goal of the night from 40 yards away to cut the home team’s deficit to 5-2, but the visitors had extended their lead to five goals with two minutes remaining before the break. Georgia headed to halftime holding an 8-2 advantage.

Two more goals by the Classic City Canines in the third period had the Fort Hill Felines ready to throw in the towel:

The wheels have fallen off 10-2 UGA

— Clemson Lacrosse (@ClemsonLacrosse) April 5, 2012

Each team carded two of the next four scores to give the Bulldogs a commanding eight-goal lead after three quarters of play, and once again Clemson partisans were not shy about admitting Georgia’s dominance of the contest:

12-4 UGA at the end of the 3rd. Georgia continues to dominate the faceoffs, ground balls and the pace of play

— Clemson Lacrosse (@ClemsonLacrosse) April 5, 2012

There were a quartet of goals scored in the fourth quarter, with each team accounting for a pair of them, so the contest ended in a Georgia victory by a 14-6 margin that looked very much like the final score of a defensive struggle between Vince Dooley’s and Danny Ford’s football teams, leaving the Tigers feeling embarrassed:

Tigers get embarrassed at home by UGA 14-6. Back to the drawing board, V Tech saturday at home

— Clemson Lacrosse (@ClemsonLacrosse) April 5, 2012

The road win over a quality conference rival was huge for the Red and Black, who now will carry a 12-2-1 ledger into their April 14 date with a Georgia Tech outfit sitting in second place in the SELC South West standings . . . behind division leader Georgia.

Go ‘Dawgs!

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