Box Score
Box Score

TROY, N.Y – Senior midfielder Josh Secora (Evergreen, CO/Golden) notched six points, including the 100th of his career to lead the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's lacrosse team to a 17-5 non-conference victory over SUNY-Cobleskill on Monday. The Red Hawks, who played in their final game of 2009, finish the season with a 6-8 record. The Fighting Tigers drop to 2-11 on the season.

After a tight start to the game, which saw both teams score within the first two minutes, the homestanding Red Hawks broke open the game with eight straight goals into the middle of the second stanza. Leading the offensive front for RPI was Secora, who needed just three points entering Monday's contest for 100, and got three goals in the span.

Cobleskill found momentum with 4:28 remaining in the second quarter as freshman attack Mike Janavey (Cross River, NY/John Jay-Cross River) scored off an assist from senior Andrew Abbott (Onondaga, NY/Thomas J. Corcoran) to cut the deficit to 9-2. A man-up tally by RPI's Taylor Inman (Sugar Land, TX/Strake Jesuit College Prep) pushed the lead to eight goals just 23 seconds later. The pair from Cobleskill connected once more, but could not get closer before intermission.

Rensselaer continued to control the momentum in the second half as senior Ryan Bigham (Newtown, CT/Trinity Pawling) scored three of the Red Hawks four tallies in the third quarter to push the lead to 15-3 heading into the final 15 minutes.

The Fighting Tigers found the net early in the fourth quarter as freshman midfielder Chris Makowicki (Staatsburg, NY/FD Roosevelt) put one past rookie netminder Jon Yen (Short Hills, NJ/Millburn) for an 11-goal deficit with 11:34 remaining. Freshman John Storella-Mullin (Quincy, MA/Tabor Academy) pushed the lead to 16-4 for RPI, but Cobleskill once again answered as Abbott scored unassisted at 5:54. RPI added a final goal with 3:59 remaining to close out the scoring.

RPI, which saw 36 of 37 players appear in the game, held a 69-20 advantage in shots in the game, including 35-12 in shots on goal. In addition to a 36-20 edge in ground balls, the Red Hawks had three man-up tallies off of 12 Cobleskill penalties.

Leading Rensselaer with three goals and three assists was Secora, who finished his Red Hawks career with 103 points. Bigham added three goals and an assist and junior Brett Evans (New Hartford, NY/New Hartford) tallied three goals and also assisted. Sophomore Nick Billy (Redding, CT/Joel Barlow) had two helpers and three other players added a goal and an assist each.

In goal for RPI, junior Grant Kovach (Sparks, MD/Mt. Hebron) started and picked up his first win of the season. He did not make any saves before giving way to Yen in the second half. He made six stops before senior Ryan DeJordy (Albany, NY/Columbia) wrapped things up in the final 3:59.

For Cobleskill, Janavey finished with two goals while Abbot had a goal and two assists. Sophomore Kevin MacNeill (Vestal, NY/Vestal) had a goal as did Makowicki. Junior netminder Robert McDonald (Amherst, NY/Amherst) stopped 18 shots in the loss.

The Fighting Tigers return to action on Friday in the NEAC Playoffs.