TROY, NY – Thirteen different scorers hit the goal column as 19th-ranked Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) posted a 22-9 victory over Vassar College in Liberty League men's lacrosse action at East Campus Stadium on Saturday. The Engineers move to a perfect 7-0 overall and 1-0 in league play, while the Brewers are now 4-3 overall and 0-1 in Liberty League action.
It was a wild opening half of scoring as RPI built up a 6-0 advantage in the first quarter of play, including three tallies by senior attack
Connor Glosner and two from senior midfielder
Alex Ehrenstein.
Rensselaer opened the second period on the man-up advantage, and it was Glosner who capitalized with his third of the contest at 11 seconds with a shot over junior goaltender Jack Bagin's shoulder.
Vassar answered at the 14:33 mark of the second when rookie long stick midfielder Matteo Roman scored his second of the season. Scooping up a ground ball, he cleared it down the field and fired it in for the tally past RPI's
Joseph Perry.
The Engineers responded as sophomore midfielder
Zach Swanson collected a pass and caught a speeding
Tyler Nalls, who flew down the middle lane for the score and an 8-1 lead. RPI scored again soon after, winning the face off as junior midfielder
Anthony Mazzella made it a 9-1 contest at 12:05.
The Brewers responded with 8:45 on the clock as senior captain Connor Deehan sent a quick pass over the defender to find junior midfielder Riley Olds, who swung a low shot past Perry for the 2-on-1 score to cut it to 9-2. RPI answered at the other end as Glosner corralled a pass, spun around a defender to cut inside and fired the shot in to take a 10-2 lead with 7:30 to play.
With 2:51 remaining on the clock, Olds took advantage of an empty RPI net, catching the keeper out of place for the Brewers third of the game and his second of the contest. Senior captain Logan Hyde made it a 10-4 game with 2:08 to go, speeding into the zone for a low shot. Yet it was the Engineers with two seconds left in the quarter as
Trey Froehlich dropped in a pass from rookie attack
Cooper Roman to send it into halftime with RPI up 11-4.
Out of the intermission, the Engineers scored on the man-up, this time from senior middie
Rhys Zoldi, who fired in a feed from classmate and attacker
Cooper Urban at 13:24. RPI pushed the lead to 14-4 at the 11:26 mark as Nalls corralled a Froehlich pass for his 10th of the season.
The Brewers cut the deficit at the 9:22 mark as sophomore midfielder Dan Negron fired in a great shot past Perry to make it a 13-5 margin. The Brewers won the ensuing face off and made it count as Olds ducked around two Engineers defenders on the near side before sending a quick shot over the shoulder of Perry at 8:34 to make it 13-6.
Vassar extended its scoring run when sophomore attack Troy Santise corralled the ball behind the net, came across the near side and fired a shot in to close it to a 13-7 gap at 6:52. The Engineers answered on the next play as junior long stick middie
Devon Boyko caught a pass off the face off, dropping the shot past Bagin at 6:47.
RPI continued to expand its lead as junior attack
Luke Murphy scored at 4:54, followed by a tally from Nalls just over a minute later for the 16-7 advantage for the home team. The Engineers closed out the third quarter with Ehrenstein firing in a rebound shot to send it to the final frame with RPI up 17-7.
The Brewers got things started in the fourth as Olds fed a shot to Santise from behind the net as the sophomore attacker dropped in for a low shot to make it 17-8 at 14:12. RPI responded as Roman pushed the lead back to 10 (18-8), sending it in low past Vassar rookie Drew Quinn at 13:09.
Vassar answered at the other end as Santise intercepted the ball off an RPI clear, sending a quick pass to Hyde, who banked it in for the score on the man-up at 8:37 (18-9). The Engineers answered though, firing in four goals in the final 7:22 of the game to wrap-up the victory.
Glosner led all scorers in the game with four goals and two assists for six points, while also recording four ground balls in the contest. Ehrenstein added three goals with two ground balls, while Froehlich had a score and three assists. Roman added two tallies and a helper, Nalls had three scores and Murphy scored a pair of goals. Venuto went 16-of-21 on the face-off with 11 ground balls, while junior middie
Ely Kalkstein posted a pair of caused turnovers.
For Vassar, Olds had three goals with an assist, adding a ground ball, while Santise had two goals with an assist, adding two ground balls and a caused turnover. Hyde added two scores, while sophomore defender Solomon Hess recorded a team-high six ground balls with two caused turnovers. Sophomore long stick midfielder Dillon Dierman went 7-of-18 from the face-off circle, adding a caused turnover and four ground balls.
In goal, RPI's Perry earned the win, recording 13 saves, while junior
Nico Nigohosian made one save in relief, along with junior
Garrett Gagnon, who also stopped a shot in relief. For the Brewers, Bagin suffered the loss, recording 15 saves on the afternoon in the first three quarters. Quinn came on in relief in the fourth quarter, making five stops.
RPI held a 56-37 advantage in shots for the game, including 42-24 on goal. The Engineers also owned a 56-38 margin in ground balls, along with a 24-of-27 mark on the clear. Vassar had a solid effort on the clear, going 17-of-20, while RPI had a 24-of-33 advantage on the face off.
Rensselaer is in action on Wednesday, hosting Williams College at 5pm.The Brewers also return to action on Wednesday, traveling to Kings Point, N.Y., for a 6pm match against the United States Merchant Marine Academy.