Box Score

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – Freshman Breanainn McNeally scored five times with an assist to lead the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's lacrosse team to an 11-10 win at Plattsburgh State in a rain-soaked non-conference game Tuesday afternoon at the Field House Turf Complex. McNeallly had two goals in the second quarter, one in the third and two in the fourth to help the Engineers improve to 8-4 on the season. The homestanding Cardinals, who got four goals and an assist from Robbie Ashlaw, fall to 9-5.
 
The Cardinals came out of a slow-paced first quarter with a 2-0 lead after goals from Ashlaw and Anthony Pafundi. RPI opened the second with a goal from McNeally before a shot by Brendan Damm gave Plattsburgh State a 3-1 advantage with 8:16 left in the first half.
 
Just under the 8:00 mark, the Cardinals' bench thought they may have grabbed a three-goal lead when Pafundi ripped a shot that looked like it may have slid just inside the post, but the officials signaled no goal and play continued. From there the tables turned in favor of the Engineers, who rattled off four goals in a three-minute span to take a 5-3 lead over the home team. Billy Gibbs (5:40), Pat Hogan (4:54), McNeally (4:00) and Hogan again (2:40) gave RPI a 5-3 lead late in the half. Plattsburgh State closed out the quarter with a goal from Matt Renko, cutting the deficit to 5-4 at the half.
 
McNeally completed the hat trick for RPI with 4:32 gone in the third before Damm and Ashlaw scored the next two fto even the score at 6-6 after three quarters.
 
The Engineers began the fourth with back-to-back goals, one by McNeally and the other from Patrick Finn, but the Cardinals' duo of Damm and Ashlaw responded again to tie the game at 8-8.

Three more for RPI put the visitors ahead 11-8, an advantage they would hold until there was just over a minute to play. Aaron Shavel scored off a feed from Finn at 8:47, McNeally notched his team-leading 34th goal at 4:03 and Scott Crow ripped one past the goalie for the eventual game-winner about two minutes later.

Plattsburgh State battled to within one, begging when James Read set up Ashlaw for his fourth of the afternoon with 1:02 left on the clock. Damm added his fourth of the game and 41st of the year with six seconds left to bring the Cardinals within one. Plattsburgh State called a timeout in hopes of drawing up a play to score the equalizer, but Rensselaer's T.J. Tynan won the draw before the final horn sounded.
 
Scott In addition to McNeally's six points, Crow had four points (1 goal, 3 assists) while Finn (1 goal, 2 assists) and Matt Hall (3 assists) registered three points apiece. John Phillips scooped up seven ground balls and caused two turnovers and Alex Castronovo stopped 13 shots to improve to 8-4 on the year.
 
Ashlaw contributed four goals and an assist while Charlie Dullea led the team in ground balls (6) and caused turnovers (3). Andrew Hauk recorded 12 saves in the loss.
 
Plattsburgh State outshot RPI, 42-41, while the Engineers finished with a 32-26 advantage in ground balls. RPI went 2-for-4 on extra-man opportunities while the Cardinals were 0-for-4.