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TROY, N.Y. - Junior Breanainn McNeally scored five goals, but it was not enough as the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's lacrosse team lost to No. 3 Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), 12-8, in the Liberty League opener for both teams. Junior Matt Hall added two goals and sophomore Matthew Gilman scored the other for the Engineers. RIT was paced by Chad Levick, who had four goals and an assist, and Kyle Sterzin, who scored three times with one assist.

RECORDS

• Rensselaer: 1-2; 0-1 Liberty League
• RIT: 4-0; 1-0 Liberty League

NOTEWORTHY

• The Tigers jumped out to a 1-0 lead just 1:10 into the game, but RPI tied it on a Hall (Sudbury, MA / Lincoln-Sudbury) shot from the right side seven minutes later ... Sophomore Jay Vakiener (Fairport, NY / Fairport) scored for RIT, his first of two goals in the game.
• RIT held a 2-1 lead after the first quarter and then tallied the first two goals of the second for a 4-1 lead with 7:17 remaining in the half ... Four different players scored for the visitors at that point.
• RPI took advantage of a pair of Tigers penalties, scoring man-up goals at 5:06 and 4:05 to pull to within one, 4-3 ... Gilman (St. Louis, MO / John Burroughs) scored unassisted before McNeally (Severna Park, MD / Archbishop Spaulding) notched his first of the game off a pass from Gilman.
• RIT closed the half with a pair of goals, including the second of the game from Levick (Newmarket, ON / Huron Heights) with 54 seconds remaining, for a 6-3 lead at the break ... Alec Sulesky (Medina, OH / Medina), who scored the Tigers' second goal of the game, assisted on Levick's second of the second quarter.
• Rensselaer held a 19-14 advantage in shots in the first half with the starting attack accounting for 10 shots ... McNeally had five, JT Kelly (Acton, MA / Acton-Boxborough) had four and Patrick Finn (North Easton, MA / Thayer Academy) had one. 
• The Tigers held a 17-12 edge in ground balls in the first 30 minutes, helping senior captain Anthony Contento (Homer, NY / Homer) win 7 of 11 faceoffs.
• Hall scored at 10:35 of the third quarter to pull the Engineers to within two, 6-4, but Levick (9:28) and Sterzin (8:50) answered with a pair of goals in 38 seconds for an 8-4 lead.
• Following a McNeally goal at 6:38, the Tigers again scored quickly with Vakiener tallying at 1:11 and Sterzin (Fairport, NY / Fairport) just 11 seconds later for a 10-5 RIT lead at the end of the third quarter.
• Sterzin's third of the game and eighth of the season at the beginning of the fourth was countered by a pair from McNeally, including RPI's third man-up goal that brought the Engineers to within 11-7.
• Levick scored his eighth of the year at 8:15 and McNeally scored his 11th at 5:14 to close out the scoring.
• RIT's Nick Nesbitt (Burlington, ON / Salisbury School) had six saves in the fourth quarter alone ... He finished with 14.
• Rensselaer's John Phillips (Oswego, NY / Oswego) finished with four ground balls and three caused turnovers ... Senior long-stick midfielder Matt Hossack (Port Perry, ON / Port Perry) of RIT led all players with seven ground balls ... Gilman had a team-high six for the Engineers.

MULTIPLE POINT PRODUCERS

• Rensselaer: McNeally - 5 goals; Hall - 2 goals, 1 assist; Gilman - 1 goal, 1 assist; Finn - 2 assists
• RIT: Levick - 4 goals, 1 assist; Sterzin - 3 goals, 1 assist; Vakiener - 2 goals, Sulesky - 1 goal, 1 assist; Beau Riley (Homer, NY / Homer) - 2 assists

SAVES

• Rensselaer: Billy Gibbs (Stony Brook, NY / Ward Melville) - 5 saves (0-2-2-1)
• RIT: Nesbitt - 14 saves (2-3-3-6)

OTHER KEY STATS

• The Engineers outshot the Tigers, 37-24, including 12-5 in the first quarter and 10-3 in the fourth.
• The Tigers won 14 of 23 faceoffs - all by Contento - and had a 37-28 edge in ground balls.
• Rensselaer was 3 for 5 on man-up and did not take a penalty to go man-down.

UP NEXT

• The Engineers travel to Southern California to play Whittier College on Thursday at 7pm (local).
• RIT plays at St. John Fisher on Tuesday at 4pm.