HOME AGAIN: Rensselaer hosts Babson College in a non-league contest at Renwyck Field, Saturday at 12pm. 

RPI FALLS TO NO. 9 MIDDLEBURY: Ninth-ranked Middlebury scored the opening six goals of the first half and initial five tallies of the second stanza on its way to a 16-4 victory over Rensselaer at Kohn Field on Wednesday ... The Panthers recorded the game's opening six goals, as Chrissy Ritter put the hosts on the scoreboard at 27:52 ... A little under a minute later, Laurel Pascal scored from five yards out on a quick-stick shot ... Unassisted goals from C. Ritter and K. Ritter along with tallies from Alli Sciarretta and Bridget Instrum gave Middlebury a sizable six-goal advantage with 8:54 remaining ... The Panther defense held the Engineers scoreless until 8:33 left in the opening half, as Meg Colitz bounced a shot home ... Instrum scored Middlebury's seventh goal at the 7:13 mark, receiving a nifty pass from Pascal after she won the draw control and raced up the field ... Colitz tallied her second goal of the game on a free-position shot with 3:53 left to cut the Middlebury lead to 7-2, but goals by Pascal at 2:36 and Sciarretta sent the Panthers to the break with a 9-2 edge ... A pair of goals 13 seconds apart by Kate Hodgson gave the Panthers a 10-goal advantage, as Pascal made it 13-2 with 15:56 left ... Colitz netted her second free-position shot of the game at 11:43, but three-straight scores from K. Ritter, Bea Eppler and Liesel Robbins pushed the Panther advantage to 16-3 ... Rensselaer's Erin Riley capped the scoring with a shot from the right that snuck past Kinker ... Colitz finished with three goals, while Riley ended with a team-best four draw controls ...  Erin Amarello took the loss allowing nine goals with three saves in the first half, while Heather MacLauchlan made four saves and allowed seven goals in the second.

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

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

EARLY LEADERS: Graduate student Meg Colitz leads the Engineers with 11 points on 10 goals and one assist ... She is followed by sophomore Sophie Hager (3 goals, 6 assists) with nine points and senior Erin Riley (6 goals, 2 assists) with eight ... Riley also leads the club with 12 draw controls, while classmate Lydia Wolter has a team-high four caused turnovers.

RPI GOALTENDING: Senior captain Erin Amarello (1-2) has a 11.15 goals against average and a .463 save percentage as the starter in all three games this season.

PACING THE BEAVERS: Babson is led offensively by senior captain Rachel Secrist (12 goals, 5 assists), who has 17 points ... Sophomore Kiley Fisher (5 goals, 1 assist) is second with 12 points, while three players have four points, including sophomore Francesca Gionvanucci (4 goals) ... In goal, sophomore Stevie Burger (1-3) has started all four games for the Beavers, carrying a 10.44 goals against average and a .434 save percentage.

LAST YEAR VS. BABSON: Meg Colitz scored all four of her goals after the break, and visiting Rensselaer notched five goals in the opening 8:39 of the second half, rallying for an 11-7 victory over Babson on March 25, 2014 ...  Misha Beatty had four goals and two draw controls for the Beavers ... Rachel Secrist scored twice and had one assist to go along with a team-high three draw controls ... Erin Riley had two goals and one assist, as well as a game-high six draw controls for the Engineers ... Rachel Scofield and Sophie Hager each had two groundballs on the day ... The Green and White started fast as Beatty converted a feed from Secrist to open the scoring at 26:28, and Secrist followed with her first tally of the day to make it 2-0 with 23:16 left in the first half ... Lydia Wolter cut the Babson lead in half at the 14:46 mark, but another strike from Beatty made it 3-1 with 10:37 to go in the period ... The Beavers controlled the possession for much of the stanza's final 10 minutes, but a save by goalkeeper Erin Amarello helped RPI get the ball back late in the half, and Marissa Page took advantage with a free-position tally just 1:08 before halftime ... Goalkeeper Julie Baharestani made a late save on a bounce shot by the Engineers' Mackenzie O'Neil to keep Babson in front 3-2 after 30 minutes ... Rensselaer took its first lead of the game behind back-to-back goals early in the second half ... Hager collected a groundball after a missed shot and scored to tie the game, before Colitz notched her first goal of the game to surge in front 4-3 with 25:32 to go ... Consecutive goals by Riley pushed the Engineers' lead to 6-3 with 23:02 remaining, and Colitz followed with another score just 41 seconds later ... Beatty cut the Green and White deficit to 7-4 on a free-position tally with 11:32 left, but Colitz and Jamie Wakefield both scored to put in RPI in front 9-4 with 9:03 to go ... Secrist notched her second goal of the game at the 3:21 mark to get within four, but Babson was unable to get any closer as the teams traded goals over the final two minutes.

THREE-PEAT: The Engineers went a perfect 9-0 in the Liberty League last season, winning their third straight conference title ... RPI went on to defeat Union, 15-8, in the Liberty League Championship game to earn its third consecutive tournament title ... Rensselaer earned a bye into the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament, where it fell to Fredonia, 9-8, on a late goal.

THE CAPTAINS: Graduate student Meg Colitz and senior Erin Amarello are in their second seasons as captains of the Engineers ... They are joined in 2015 by senior Lydia Wolter and junior Sara Bischof.

BY POSITION: The Engineers roster consists of four attackers, seven midfielders, five defenders, two goaltenders and two players that play multiple positions.

BY CLASS: The team is made up of one graduate student, five seniors, six juniors, three sophomores and five freshmen.

RENSSELAER'S COACHES: The Engineers are led by 13th-year head coach Leslie DeLano ... She is a 2000 graduate of William Smith College ... DeLano is assisted by Mackenzie Riegel.

UPCOMING ACTION: Rensselaer is back in action on Wednesday, when it travels to 10th-ranked Middlebury (5pm).