Men's Lacrosse | 4/14/2017 11:12:00 AM

Game Program | Live Stats | Live Video

GAMEDAY (April 15, 2017): The Engineers (8-3; 2-2 Liberty League) play their third straight home game when they welcome Skidmore (6-5; 2-2 Liberty League) to East Campus Stadium for a critical Liberty League contest (1pm).

THE STANDINGS: Rensselaer and Skidmore are in a three-way tie with Union for the fourth and final playoff spot in the Liberty League standings.

COMMON OPPONENTS: The Engineers and Thoroughbreds have both played Babson, Plattsburgh State, Vassar, Bard, RIT and Union ... RPI is 4-2 against those schools, having beaten Babson, Plattsburgh, Bard and Union ... Skidmore is 2-4 with victories over Vassar and Bard.

ALL-TIME: Rensselaer has played Skidmore 34 times in program history, leading the series, 26-8.

EARLY ON: The first head-to-head matchup was April 16, 1987, a 5-4 Rensselaer win in Saratoga Springs ... The Engineers won  the first 15 meetings, which ran through the 2001 season.

BREAKDOWNS: RPI is 12-4 at home against Skidmore and 15-6 in conference contests ... Rensselaer's most recent home win came in 2015 (9-4).

OF LATE: The Engineers have defeated Skidmore three straight times, including a 12-4 win last season in Saratoga Springs ... RPI is 5-1 in the last six and 9-2 in the 11 most recent head-to-head contests ... Ten of the last 11 were league games with the exception being on May 6, 2011, when Rensselaer won a conference semifinal game, 13-12, at Skidmore.

LAST SEASON'S MATCHUP: RPI held Skidmore scoreless for the first 38:43 on the way to a 12-4 win at Wachenheim Field ... Breanainn McNeally, Patrick Finn, Jake Weidner and Lucas Bastarache tallied two goals apiece for Rensselaer, who built a 6-0 lead at the half ... After three more RPI goals in the third made it 9-0, Skidmore scored three straight, but the Engineers added three more to regain the nine-goal margin ... RPI outshot Skidmore 41-26 and had a 31-19 ground ball advantage ... The Engineers won 13 of 18 face offs ... Chris Baughan stopped 15 shots for the Thoroughbreds and David Gibbs had 10 saves over the first 57:56 for RPI.
 
RPI LAST TIME OUT: Rensselaer held a 6-1 lead after the first quarter and the Engineers never relinquished the advantage on their way to defeating Babson College 13-7 on Wednesday evening ... Freshman Owen Putman led RPI with three goals and three assists, while picking up two ground balls ... Zach Lukas, the reigning Liberty League Offensive Performer of the Week, had four goals and an assist with 10 shots and two ground balls ... JT Kelly, a midfielder, had a goal and two assists with seven shots and a ground ball ... David Gibbs finished with five saves for the Engineers, who had a 39-32 edge in ground balls.

UPCOMING: The Engineers are on the road for two straight games (Williams & St. Lawrence) before closing out the regular season with a home game - and Senior Day - against Clarkson on April 29 at 1pm.

SKIDMORE LAST TIME OUT: A Union goal with 11 seconds remaining in the first overtime lifted the Dutchmen over Skidmore, 10-9 in Schenectady on Wednesday ... Jack Metzler provided much of the scoring spark for the Thoroughbreds, tallying a career-high six points on a pair of goals and four assists ... Paddy Fallon also tallied a career-best with three goals, while Cody Legeza scored a pair ... Colby Farnham and Will Lukas also had goals ... Ryan Warnock grabbed six ground balls and won eight faceoffs and Chris Baughan made 10 saves in net ... Union held a 39-36 shot advantage, while Skidmore held a 35-32 edge in ground balls.