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TROY, N.Y. - Junior JT Kelly scored unassisted with under three minutes left in the fourth quarter with what would be the game-winning goal as the No. 20 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's lacrosse team defeated Vassar College, 15-14, in a Liberty League game at East Campus Stadium. The Engineers improve to 9-2 overall and 4-1 in the conference, while the Brewers drop to 2-9 and 1-4.

With RPI holding a 14-13 lead following a Thomas Meade goal for the visitors with 4:17 to play, Kelly took the ball from the end line behind the goal and carried it to the left of the cage, where he swept in a low-to-high shot into the for a two-goal lead with 2:52 remaining in the fourth quarter. The Brewers needed just 40 seconds to get to within one goal, however, as sophomore Kyle Cherry scored on a turn-around jump shot from the right alley.

Vassar won the ensuing faceoff and got a shot off, but Rensselaer netminder Parker Smith backed it up to gain possession. The Engineers cleared the ball and got a timeout but Vassar forced a turnover with half a minute to play. The Brewers used a timeout to set their offense, but RPI forced a bad angle shot and the ball went out of bounds on the far sideline with less than 10 seconds to play. Vassar regained possession with 6.5 seconds remaining and attempted to get the ball in front of the goal, but a bad angle shot from the left side went wide as the buzzer sounded.

Kelly finished with two goals and two assists and was one of four RPI players with four points. Zach Lukas and Lucas Bastarache both had three goals and an assist, while Cliff Kigar had two goals and two assists. Matthew Gilman scored twice for RPI, which got five ground balls from both Robby Gale and Oliver Kaija. A senior, Kaija won 13 faceoffs and caused two turnovers. Smith finished with seven saves.

For Vassar, Matt Boyd started in goal and stopped nine shots in the first half before Erik Mikelinich had three second half saves. Matthew Lowery had 19 faceoff wins and 11 ground balls. Offensively, Cherry scored four times with an assist and Dekker Stebel also scored four goals. Nick Diamond added three goals and an assist.

The game started quickly with a total of 11 goals scored - by 11 different players - in the first quarter and the Engineers holding a 7-4 lead. Only Lukas and Stebel tallied in the second  and Vassar outscored RPI 4-3 in the third quarter to make it 11-9 after 45 minutes. 

There were nine goals in the fourth quarter with both teams making runs. RPI, which got a Bastarache goal with 19 seconds left in the third, scored twice within 15 seconds in the first minute of the fourth for a 13-9 lead. Vassar answered with three in a row, including a pair from Stebel, for a 13-12 deficit before Gilman put Rensselaer ahead by two goals, 14-12. 

The Engineers, who trailed in both shots (40-39) and ground balls (44-33), go out of conference on Saturday when they face MIT on the road (1pm). Vassar hosts league foe Clarkson on Saturday at 1pm.