TROY, N.Y. - Senior Matt Neal scored two goal, including the eventual game-winner, to lead the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's hockey team to a 4-1 victory over 15th-ranked Colgate University, this evening at the Houston Field House. With the win, the Engineers improve to 8-16-1 overall (6-6-0 ECAC Hockey), while the Raiders drop to 13-7-1 (5-3-1 ECAC Hockey).

Less than a minute into the third period, Neal (Minesing, ON/Stoufville Spirit) broke a 1-1 tie, when he buried a rebound from just outside the Colgate crease. The lone assist went to junior Milos Bubela (Banska Bystrica, Slovakia/Dubuque Fighting Saints).

Senior Jacob Laliberte (Rockland, ON/Cornwall Colts) then gave the hosts a 3-1 lead at 3:21 of the frame, also capitalizing on a rebound in front of goal. Neal set the play up from behind the cage, playing the puck to himself off the back of the net before finding Laliberte to the right of the crease. His first shot was turned away by Raiders sophomore goaltender Charlie Finn (North Vancouver, BC/Kingston Voyageurs), but Laliberte stuck his second effort over Finn's shoulder and into the back of the net. 

Neal then added an empty-net marker at 19:31 to cap the scoring.

RPI scored the game's first goal at 2:08 of the first period, on a tip-in by senior Mark McGowan (Toronto, ON/Oakville Blades). Freshman Viktor Liljegren (Stockholm, Sweden/Fairbanks Ice Dogs) worked the puck to the left point for senior Luke Curadi (Cheshire, CT/Dubuque Fighting Saints), who fired a shot towards goal. McGowan, who was camped in front of Finn, redirected the shot inside the left post for his third of the year.

The visitors pulled even at 14:58 of the opening stanza on junior blueliner Kevin Lough's (Kanata, ON/Cumberland Grads) second of the season. Helpers went to classmate Darcy Murphy (Marysville, ON/Wellington Dukes) and freshman Mike Panowyk (Whitby, ON/Whitby Fury).

Finn finished with 21 saves, while Rensselaer junior netminder Jason Kasdorf (Winnipeg, MB/Des Moines Bucs) stopped 17 of the 18 shots he faced. The Engineers went 0 for 3 on the power play, while Colgate was 0 for 4, including 0 for 2 in the third period.

RPI is back in action tomorrow night, when it hosts Cornell University at the Houston Field House (7:07pm). The game will be broadcast live on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel. The Raiders travel to Schenectady to take on Union College tomorrow (7pm).