TROY, N.Y. - Brendan Hoffman had four goals and an assist and the Williams College men's lacrosse team won 19 of 25 faceoffs and held a 47-27 edge in ground balls on its way to defeating No. 15 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) 16-7 in a non-league game at East Campus Stadium. The Ephs improve to 4-1, while the Engineers drop to 6-1.

Williams jumped out to a 2-0 lead before RPI scored the next three goals for a one-goal advantage with 5:43 to play in the first quarter. The Ephs tied the game before the frame ended and then outscored the Engineers 6-1 in the second quarter for a 9-4 halftime lead. Seven different student-athletes had goals in the opening 30 minutes for the visitors, including Hoffman and Matthew Seligson, who had two goals apiece. The Ephs had 32 shots, 28 ground balls and 12 of 15 faceoff wins. Rensselaer, which had four different goal scorers, managed 11 shots and nine ground balls.

Hoffman opened the second half scoring with his 16th of the season at the 9:29 mark, but RPI pulled to within 10-6 seven minutes later on goals by Cooper Urban - his second of the night - and Parker Jean. Hoffman scored his fourth with 1:30 left for an 11-6 lead heading into the final quarter. The Ephs went on to outscore the Engineers by four in the fourth (5-1) with Jake Haase tallying twice. He finished with three goals and an assist.

Alex Kitt won 18 of 23 faceoffs and picked up eight ground balls for Williams, which got a goal and an assist, five ground balls and four caused turnovers from Rock Stewart. Harry Gahagan made 10 saves for the win.

Urban had three points (2 goals, 1 assist) to lead Rensselaer. Brian Doughty and Kyle Botsford had eight saves apiece in the cage.

The Engineers begin Liberty League play on Saturday when they travel to No. 19 Ithaca College for a 1 p.m. start. Williams hosts No. 11 Bates College in a NESCAC contest on Saturday at 1 p.m.