Box Score

TROY, N.Y. – The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men’s lacrosse team scored five unanswered goals in the first period and went on to defeat Wheaton, 12-6 at Harkness Field this afternoon. With the victory, the Red Hawks improve to 1-1 on the season. The Lyons fall to 0-1 overall.

Wheaton opened the scoring with a goal at the 12:36 mark of the first quarter but RPI answered with five of its own, including a tally on the man-up opportunity by sophomore Alex MacDiarmid (New Hartford, NY/New Hartford) to take a 5-1 lead. The Lyons fought back tallying the next two goals to narrow the lead to 5-3, but Rensselaer added two of its own to take a 7-3 lead at the half-way mark.

The homestanding Red Hawks extended the lead less than five minutes into the third quarter on a goal by senior Chris Sherman (Newark, DE/St. Marks). Senior Adam Cohen (Montpelier, VT/Montpelier) added a pair of goals for the Lyons, but sophomore Jamie Merritt (Ballston Spa, NY/Ballston Spa) tallied twice to give RPI a 10-5 lead heading into the final period. Rensselaer would add two goals, including a man-up marker by senior Adam LoGiudice (Massapequa, NY/Massapequa) in the final two minutes of the game for the 12-6 victory.

Merritt led the way for RPI tallying four goals and an assist. Sophomore Josh Begley (Camillus, NY/West Genesse) added two goals and an assist, while LoGiudice scored two of his own. Sherman, MacDiarmid, and freshmen Josh Secora (Evergreen, CO/Golden) and Ryan Bigham (Newton, CT/Trinity Pawling) tallied a goal each and junior Ryan Michels (Wilmington, DE/Brandywine) made 13 saves in goal for the win.

For Wheaton, Cohen scored two goals and four additional players tallied a goal each. Sophomore goalie Jeremy Beech (West Newbury, MA/Govenor Dummer) finished with 19 saves in the loss.

RPI returns to action on Monday against Potsdam at 1pm in Florida.  Wheaton will play at Gordon College on Wednesday (4pm).