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POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - Vassar College outscored Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) 6-2 in the fourth quarter and the Brewers defeated the No. 19 Engineers 11-9 in a Liberty League contest. Zach Lucas and
Breanainn McNeally both had three goals in the loss for RPI (5-3; 1-2 Liberty League).
It was the first time in program history that Vassar (8-2, 1-1 Liberty) took down a top-20 opponent. The game featured six ties and four lead changes, but the Brewers strung together four straight goals — three of which were man-up — to open the fourth quarter on the way to their first win over the Engineers in program history.
Three Brewers registered a trifecta of points: Michael Mullen scored a hat trick, Brandon DeStasio netted two goals with an assist, and Liam Moriarty scored one goal with two helpers. Vassar's defense held up well against a fast-paced Engineers offense. Eric Prezioso registered game-highs in ground balls (6) and caused turnovers (3). Matthew Lowery was also critical, helping Vassar win the face-off battle 14-10 and the ground ball battle 25-20.
Goalkeeper Matt Boyd matched his career-best with 16 saves for the win, while
David Gibbs took the loss with 12 stops, as the Brewers and Engineers put up 36 shots apiece.
McNeally and Lukas both registered four points on three scores and an assist.
Lucas Bastarache (1g, 1a) and
JT Kelly (2a) added two points, while
Quinn Fettig (1g),
Jake Weidner (1g) and
Owen Putman (1a) all finished with one.
Playing in front of a rowdy crowd, both sides netted two goals in the first quarter. Vassar bookended a pair of scores by Lukas, and the game was tied at 2-2 heading into the second stanza.
Moriarty found Sam Houston-Read to give the Brewers a 3-2 edge, and DeStasio connected on a rocket shot from deep to put them back on top 4-3 after a McNeally goal. McNally netted another two before DeStasio drove straight to the cage to knot the game at 5-5 going into the break.
The Engineers scored the only two goals of the third quarter to take their largest lead of the game, 7-5, but the Brewers answered in the final frame.
Moriarty got the ball rolling, spinning around his defender before taking it in for a goal. Shortly thereafter, DeStasio took a hard hit, which resulted in a two-minute, non-releasable penalty on RPI. The Brewers rallied around that moment to net three straight man-up goals within those two minutes. Houston-Read fed Chris Billups in between scores by Mulllen. Dekker Stebel assisted on the first to make it 7-7, and DeStasio helped on the third to give the Brewers a 9-7 advantage with about six minutes remaining.
The sides exchanged goals the rest of the way with Fettig earning his first of the season to get RPI to within one, 10-9, with 2:23 to play.