Men's Lacrosse | 5/3/2022 12:29:00 PM

TROY, N.Y. - After posting four wins in seven Liberty League games during the regular season, the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's lacrosse team has qualified for the four-team conference tournament and will travel to top-seeded Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) for a semifinals matchup on Wednesday at 4pm. The winner advances to the championship game against either second-seeded Union College or third-seeded St. Lawrence University on Saturday. The highest remaining seed hosts at 1pm.

All four teams are nationally-ranked, according to the latest United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) Poll, with RIT (15-1; 6-1) at No. 2, Union (14-1; 6-1) at No. 4, St. Lawrence at No. 10 (12-3; 5-2) and RPI (10-4; 4-3) at No. 16. Combined, the teams have lost only two non-league games all season, boasting a record of 30-2.

Rensselaer, which is coached by Scott Hackett-Dalgliesh, clinched its bid with a 13-12 victory at Ithaca College on Saturday. Its goal total was right on the team's average per game (13.42) as the Engineers have outscored their opponent 188-147. 

Seniors Connor Glosner (Auburn, NH / Derryfield), Cooper Urban (Glen Mills, PA / Salesianum School) and Trey Froehlich (Austin, TX / Regents School of Austin) lead the offensive attack. Glosner, a midfielder, has team-highs of 29 goals and 36 points, along with 26 ground balls. He has two man-up goals and four caused turnovers. Urban, an attack, is first in assists with 14 and points with 31, while Froehlich, who also plays attack, has 22 goals, including four against the Bombers on Saturday, and 30 points. Three of his tallies have come man-up.

Junior Luke Murphy (Scituate, MA / Kent School) has 29 points (18 goals, 11 assists) in 11 games, while senior Rhys Zoldi (Colorado Springs, CO / Kent Denver School) has 28 (19 goals, 9 assists) in 13 contests.

Angelo Venuto (Sudbury, MA / Lincoln Sudbury Regional), a sophomore, takes most of Rensselaer's face offs and has a winning percentage of .543 (172 of 317). He has a team-high 128 ground balls, along with 11 goals and seven assists. Junior Devon Boyko (Zionsville, PA / Emmaus), a long-stick midfielder, has played a large role in the Engineers winning 52.7 percent of its face offs (254-308) as a team.

Defensively, RPI has held its opponents to 10.5 goals per game behind the back line of seniors Garrett Volley (Glenwood, MD / Our Lady of Good Counsel) and Trevor Tocchet (Pittsburgh, PA / Mt. Lebanon) and sophomore Caleb Oswari (Mt. Laurel, NJ / Lenape). Oswari is first on the team in caused turnovers with 18 and second in ground balls with 38. Volley is third in pick ups (32) and Boyko is third in caused turnovers (12).

Joseph Perry (Barrington, RI / Moses Brown) has started the last nine games in goal and has made at least 13 saves in each contest in that span. He had a season-high 23 saves in RPI's first meeting with RIT, a 13-12 victory in Troy on April 2 that is the only loss of the season for the defending national champion Tigers, who were No. 1 in the nation at the time. Overall, Perry, a freshman, is 7-4 with a 10.46 goals against average and a .596 save percentage in 14 games.

Wednesday's game can be watched live online by clicking HERE. Live statistics will also be available by clicking HERE.