CENTER VALLEY, Pa. – Freshman Cooper Manzi recorded five points on four goals and an assist, while goalkeeper Joseph Perry added a highlight goal as the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's lacrosse team defeated DeSales University by a final score of 16-10 Sunday afternoon. RPI moves to 2-1 on the season while the Bulldogs fall to 0-3 overall.
 
Manzi scored the first goal and last goal of a five-goal run to open the game, giving RPI a 5-0 lead over the first 20 minutes of the game. However, DeSales went on to score four of the next six goals to pull within three goals as RPI led 7-4 at the halfway point.
 
Luke Murphy doubled the Engineers lead scoring just nine seconds into the third quarter, giving RPI an 8-4 advantage. Throughout I the third and into the fourth quarter, DeSales would not get any closer than two goals after TJ Herron scored at the 13:21 mark for the Bulldogs to make it 10-8 Engineers.
 
RPI proceeded to go on their second 5-0 run of the game highlighted by a pair of goals from Zach Neely to open up a 15-8 Engineers lead. After DeSales scored a pair of goals in a 34 second span to make the score 15-10, Perry struck for his full field tally with 1:13 to play. The highlight goal moved the score to 16-10 that stayed through the final whistle.
 
Nine different Engineers scored along with Manzi and Neely for 11 total scorers. Luke Murphy matched Manzi's five points with one goal and four assists of his own. Perry finished with seven saves in the cage, while Angelo Venuto went 16-for-25 in the faceoff X with 14 ground balls.
 
Angelo Luzzetti scored a hat trick for the Bulldogs, while Colin Adams scored a pair of goals and added two assists to lead DeSales with four points. Quinten Lyons made 20 saves on 36 shots on net for the Bulldogs.
 
The Engineers return to action next weekend on Saturday, March 4 at 12 p.m. when they host Muhlenberg College at ECAV Stadium.