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TROY, N.Y. - The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) women's lacrosse team got a goal and four assists from Rachel Scofield and the Engineers came back from an early deficit to defeat St. John Fisher, 13-8 in an NCAA Tournament First Round matchup at Renwyck Field. With the win, its first-ever in four NCAA games, No. 14 RPI improves to 15-3 and advances to the second round of the national event for the first time in school history. The No. 12 Cardinals conclude their season with a 15-4 mark. 

The Engineers play No. 5 Gettysburg College (19-1) on Saturday at 2:30pm at Middlebury College. The Bullets defeated Rowan University, 17-5, in the first round. The host Panthers (16-2), the third-ranked team in the latest IWLCA Poll, faces Endicott College at 11:30am.

After falling behind by two goals in the first 54 seconds, Rensselaer settled in and notched the next three goals for a 3-2 lead 3:50 into the first half. Five different student-athletes scored before Fisher's Kristina Lombard, who tallied just 42 seconds into the game, scored her second of the game to tie the contest at 3-3. The two teams again traded goals, including the second of the game for RPI's Erin Riley, before the home team went on a run of scoring six of the next seven goals. Five of those came to close out the first half and the Engineers led, 10-6 at the break. 

Riley and senior Alissa Peterson both had two goals and an assist in the first half, while Shannon Maguire, Jamie Wakefield and Marissa Page all had a pair of markers. Scofield, the school's single season record holder for assists, earned four helpers in the opening frame. Senior Allie Arnal finished with six saves on the 11 shots she faced in the opening 30 minutes.

For St. John Fisher, Lombard had two goals and sophomore Erin Ward scored once with one assist. Freshman Nicole Hart had five saves on 13 shots in the first 20:19 before Caroline Trpcevski replaced her for the final 9:41 of the frame. She allowed two goals with one save. 

The second half featured much less scoring as the weather deteriorated with rain and wind beginning. Scofield increased the Engineers' lead to 11-6 with her lone goal of the game - and 33rd of the season - just over five minutes into the second half. Junior Taylor Hughes answered with her second of the game and 52nd of the season four minutes later for the Cardinals, but RPI scored the next two goals out of the sticks of Michelle Denny and Audrey Stapleton for a 13-7 edge. Samantha Barton of St. John Fisher closed the scoring with an unassisted goal, her 36th of the year, with 1:49 left in regulation.

In addition to her five points, Scofield also had four draw controls, while Maguire had five DCs with three ground balls and a game-high eight shots. Riley also had four ground balls, along with four shots. Arnal finished with seven saves for the win to improve to 15-3.

Hart took the loss to drop to 7-1. Trpcevski finished with four saves in 34:39, while senior Molly Naylon did not face any shots in the 5:02. Four players finished with two points, including Lombard and Hughes, who had two goals apiece. Lombard also had four ground balls, while Samantha Barton had five draw controls.