TROY, NY - The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's lacrosse team scored a thrilling 8-7 victory over Middlebury tonight at ECAV Stadium.

The Engineers trailed early in the third quarter, but managed to score four of the final six goals of the evening to come out on top of a battle of two top-10 nationally-ranked teams.

Middlebury tallied the first two goals of the night before Sean Smith struck with 4:21 left in the first.

RPI faced another multi-goal deficit late in the second quarter, however Smith and Tyler Ruffini combined to score three goals in the final four minutes of the half, including Ruffini's second of the rally with three seconds left.

The Panthers registered the first tally of the third before RPI rattled off three straight scores, the first coming from Gavin Cousineau and the final two from Zach Swanson to propel RPI ahead.

Following another Middlebury goal, Swanson would net his third strike of the period to put RPI up 7-5 heading into the last quarter.

Swanson also forced the game-sealing turnover with the Engineers leading by one goal with three seconds remaining in the final stanza.

Smith and Ruffini both finished with two goals and one assist, while Erik Ojert provided two helpers and Joseph Perry logged 11 saves in the win for the Engineers.

RPI will hit the road for its next three games, beginning with a 1:00 pm contest at MIT on Saturday.