Box Score

TROY, N.Y. – Behind a four-point effort from junior midfield Josh Secora (Evergreen, CO/Golden), the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men’s lacrosse team rallied past Liberty League-rival Skidmore College, 8-6, at Harkness Field. The Red Hawks improve to 7-2 overall and 2-1 in conference play while the Thoroughbreds fall to 6-2 and 1-1 in the Liberty League.

The Red Hawks found themselves with a 3-1 advantage after the first quarter, led by two goals from senior attack Alex MacDiarmid (New Hartford, NY/New Hartford). Skidmore opened the scoring at 10:12 of the frame off a tally by junior attack Nick Coppola (Basking Ridge, NJ/Ridge) before MacDiarmid and Secora made it a two-goal advantage heading into the second stanza.

Skidmore quickly made it a 3-3 game at 13:34 behind tallies from senior Tyler Arnot (Waterbury, VT/Rice Memorial) and freshman Jacques Ward (New York, NY/Governors Academy), but MacDiarmid once again pulled Rensselaer ahead, scoring back-to-back goals for a 5-4 lead at halftime.

Thoroughbreds’ sophomore Tom Howley (Colonia, NJ/Northfield Mt. Hermon) knotted things at 5-5 with the only goal of the third quarter and the game remained tied until 12:25 of the final stanza when Secora scored on the man-up advantage for a 6-5 lead.

Sophomore Paul Cerone (Ridgefield, CT/Ridgefield) and Secora closed out the scoring for Rensselaer with 7:21 remaining. Skidmore scored with 4:15 remaining and gained control of the ball on several forced turnovers thereafter, but could not close the gap.

In addition to Secora, who finished with three goals and an assist, the Red Hawks saw MacDiarmid post a game-high four goals. He also had an assist. Cerone had a goal and an assist while freshman Nick Billy (Redding, CT/Joel Barlow) added two assists. In goal, junior Ryan DeJordy (Albany, NY/Columbia) stopped 14 shots to pick up his sixth win of the season.

For Skidmore, six different players scored, including Arnot and sophomore Cory Barkoff (Syosset, NY/Syosset), who each had a goal and an assist each. Sophomore netminder John Capitani (Garden City, NY/Garden City) posted seven saves in the loss.

RPI returns to action on Saturday when it hosts Ursinus at Harkness Field (1pm). Skidmore is also back on the field on Saturday, hosting Vassar (7pm).