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BRADENTON, Fla. - Matt Hall scored three times, Pat Finn had four assists and Alex Castronova stopped 11 shots to lead the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's lacrosse team to an 8-4 victory over Wittenberg University at IMG Stadium. RPI has now won two straight games to improve to 3-2, while the Tigers fall for the first time. They are now 4-1.

Hall (Sudbury, MA / Lincoln-Sudbury), a freshman, started the scoring with his eighth of the year at 8:58 of the first quarter. Classmate Breanainn McNeally (Severna Park, MD / Archbishop Spaulding) doubled the lead 6:57 later, but Wittenberg got a goal back with a man-up goal less than a minute later.

The second quarter scoring was back-and-forth, with the Tigers tying it at 2-2 and again 4-4 before RPI's Aaron Shavel (Lawrenceville, NJ / Princeton Day School), who set up Hall's first tally, scored his second of the season with 1:07 left in the first half for a 5-4 lead at the break. The Engineers outshot Wittenberg, 16-10, in the second quarter, forcing goalkeeper Jay Dolan (Andover, MA/Phillips Andover) to make six saves in the frame. He had eight in the half, while Castronova (Garden City, NY / Garden City) had five first half stops (3 in the 2nd quarter). 

Castronova would not be beaten in the entire second half, making two saves in the third quarter and four in the fourth. Offensively, McNeally scored his team-leading 14th goal of the year at 8:49 of the third, followed by Hall, with Finn (North Easton, MA / Thayer Academy) earning his fourth assist of the game, just 28 seconds later. Shavel's second goal of the game at 9:26 of the fourth quarter closed out the scoring.

Dolan finished with 18 saves for Wittenberg, who had four different goal scorers. Attack Andrew Fuss (New Albany, OH/Gahanna Lincoln) had two assists.

Rensselaer returns to the Capital District for its next game, which is March 19 at 4pm against Mount Saint Mary College (4pm).