YORK, PA - Graduate student Luke Murphy picked up where he left off in 2023, as his four-goal, five-point afternoon helped the No. 17 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's lacrosse team to an 8-7 victory over No. 11 York College on the road Saturday afternoon. 

The first half was tightly contested, as both sides scored one goal apiece in the opening quarter - with Murphy scoring the opening tally followed by one from Anthony Mazzella. In the second, York took a slim 3-2 lead after a goal from Jackson Hines at the 8:46 mark before Murphy answered once again at the 6:53 mark. With the score 3-3 and looking to stay that way into the half, sophomore Sean Smith found the twine with one second remaining in the first half to give RPI the 4-3 lead at the break. Murphy assisted on the play.

Smith answered the call again in the third quarter, scoring on a dish from Caleb Oswari to give the Engineers their first multi-goal lead of the afternoon with 11:55 to play in the third. After York scored to make it 5-4 with 2:33 left in the third, Tyler Ruffini and Murphy both scored down the stretch as RPI held a 7-4 lead heading into the final quarter. 

York began to make some noise in the fourth, as they cut the lead back to two before Murphy scored his final goal of the afternoon with 4:07 to play. With the score 8-5, York scored at the 3:19 and 1:56 marks to play to bring things to 8-7 with plenty of time on the clock for an equalizer. However, a key faceoff win by Angelo Venuto followed by a ground ball from Murphy resulted in the Engineers killing plenty of clock. 

Despite having to take a shot and York getting a chance to run down field with under 30 seconds to play, York turned the ball over with Oswari grabbing the key ground ball to help seal the deal.

Graduate student Erik Ojert had two assists in his RPI debut, while Evan Whatley and Drew Teff each had assists on the day as well. Junior goalie Joseph Perry made 14 saves in the net.

RPI returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 17 at 12 p.m. when they host Coast Guard at ECAV Stadium for their 2024 home opener.