Men's Soccer | 10/10/2014 8:20:00 AM

REUNION & HOMECOMING: Rensselaer takes to East Campus Stadium on Saturday night (7pm) for a Liberty League match-up with Bard College ... RPI Athletics would like to welcome back all the alums that have returned to Troy for Reunion & Homecoming Weekend!

SENIOR NIGHT!: RPI will recognize its nine seniors prior to Saturday's match-up with the Raptors ... Rob Dewald, Tim Terrezza, Myles McDonough, Matt Koziol, Jamal Powell, Pat Noonan, Tyler Kessler, Zach Dugas and Josh Patten have all played in a significant role in the success of the Engineers over the last four seasons.
LEAGUE SEASON HEATING UP: The Engineers are currently in a three-way tie for first place in the Liberty League, joining St. Lawrence and Vassar with nine points apiece ... RIT sits in fourth with six points, while three teams have three ... The top four teams at the end of the regular season qualify for the Liberty League Tournament, with the first and second seeds hosting the third and fourth teams in the semifinals.

RPI TV COVERAGE: Fans not able to attend Saturday night's game can watch it live, for free, courtesy of RPI TV ... The stream will be available online at www.rpitv.org.

RENSSELAER WINS AT UNION: RPI scored just over two minutes into the contest Tuesday night to give Union their third straight 1-0 defeat by a Liberty League opponent ... Ryan Carter posted three saves in the loss ... Matt Carberry flew through the box to deflect the ball off the free kick from Paul Lentine into the back of the net just 2:17 into the game to give RPI the early 1-0 advantage ... Union controlled the pace of play from then, outshooting the Engineers 16-7 including a 9-3 edge in shots on goal ... RPI goalkeeper Alex Kessler stopped all nine of the Dutchmen chances to give RPI the shutout.

FOLLOW THE ACTION: Live statistics for this weekend's action – and all Rensselaer home games – can be followed at http://www.sidearmstats.com/rpi/msoc.

WATCH ONLINE: Rensselaer home games can be seen live at www.rpiathletics.com/watch/msoc.

RENSSELAER RANKED: The Engineers are currently 20th in the most recent NSCAA DIII coaches poll. Oneonta, which handed RPI its first loss this season, sits in fifth, while St. Lawrence is 13th.

OFFENSIVE LEADERS: Junior Matt Carberry leads the Engineers with nine points on a team-best four goals and one assist ... Senior captain Matt Koziol (3 goals, 2 assists) is right behind him with eight points, while junior Nathaniel Gunderson (3 goals, 1 assist) has seven ... Koziol leads the squad with 34 shots,     18 shots on goal and three game-winning goals.

BETWEEN THE STICKS: Senior captain Rob Dewald (6-2-2) has played 925:06 for the Engineers so far this season, compiling a 0.49 goals against average and an .878 save percentage ... Sophomore Alex Kessler (2-0) has played 210:08, with a 0.00 goals against average and a 1.000 save percentage, stopping all 10 shots he has faced.

BARD LEADERS: The Raptors are led offensively by sophomore Austin Higgins (5 goals, 2 assists), who has 12 points in 12 games ... Freshman Nick Shenberger (4 goals, 1 assist) is second with nine points, while classmate Shaw McCabe (1 goal, 4 assists) rounds out the top three scorers with six points ... Rookie goalkeeper Taylor Bond (3-5) has a 2.09 goals against average and a .737 save percentage as the starter in eight games ... Junior Daniel Gagne (1-3) has a 3.00 GAA and a .615 SA% in six games (4 starts).

RAPTORS DEFEATED BY RIT: Rochester Institute of Technology dispatched Bard, 6-0, through at Ferrari Field on Saturday ... RIT jumped early and never looked back ... Dave Boselli pounced on an opportunity in the third minute, striking a shot from eight yards out ... Danny Bloshkin made it 2-0 in the 15th minute, taking a feed on the counterattack from Mike Reverdatto, who was running down the right wing ... A Bloshkin direct kick from 30 yards was inadvertantly put into the goal by a Bard defender for an own goal in the 25th minute ... The Tigers outshot Bard 13-4 and collected six corners to none for the Raptors ... Daniel Gagne made two saves for Bard.

NATIONAL LEADERS: The Engineers rank sixth nationally save percentage (.904) and  eighth in goals against average (0.40) ... Rensselaer is also eighth in shutout percentage (.677).

STINGY IN CONFERENCE PLAY: Rensselaer, which is currently 3-1 in Liberty League play, has gone 5-1-2 against conference opponents in each of the last two season ... Only once in the last six seasons have the Engineers lost more than one conference game ... The 2011 squad went 2-3-3.

STRONG LEAGUE: All but one Liberty League team has scored more goals than it has allowed so far this season ... Only three conference teams have losing overall records.

THE CAPTAINS: Seniors Rob Dewald and Matt Koziol will lead the Engineers on the field for the 2014 season ... Both are wearing captain's armbands for the second straight season.

BY POSITION: The Engineers roster consists of two goaltenders, 11 defenders, six midfielders, nine forwards and four players who play multiple positions.

BY CLASS: The team is made up of 10 freshmen, seven sophomores, seven juniors and nine seniors.

RENSSELAER'S COACHES: The Engineers are led by 13th-year head coach Adam Clinton ... He is a 1987 graduate of Keene State ... Clinton is assisted by Liam Heffernan and former Ryan Jones ... Heffernan played collegiately at Hartwick College, while Jones was a goaltender at Syracuse.

UPCOMING ACTION: Rensselaer is back in action next weekend, when it travels to RIT and Hobart on Friday (4pm) and Saturday (2pm), respectively.