TROY, NY - The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's lacrosse team edged Clarkson University 8-7 today in ECAV Stadium.

Easton Morse led the charge for RPI with a hat trick and an assist to finish with four points on the day.

RPI jumped out to an early lead, with Morse opening the scoring at 10:54 of the first quarter, followed by a quick unassisted tally from Tyler Ruffini three minutes later.

Morse added another goal later in the opening quarter to put RPI ahead 3-0. Clarkson responded with Andrew Kearney's unassisted goal in the second quarter, but RPI continued to dominate, with Erik Ojert adding an unassisted strike to extend the Engineer's advantage. Evan Whatley also contributed a goal with 1:49 remaining in the half, as he used a Sean Smith assist to manufacture RPI's fifth score.

The Engineers score two of the first three goals after the intermission, with Swanson and Ojert finding the back of the net to give RPI it's largest lead of the day at 7-2. 

Clarkson would not go away quietly though, as Kearney sandwiched two more goals around another Seiler strike to pull Clarkson to within one at 7-5 by at the of the third.

Morse completed his hat trick five minutes into the fourth using an assist by Ojert, to make it 8-5. The Golden Knights responded with two goals from Fox and another score by Dylan Coan to cut the margin to one late, however RPI's defense held off the final push to secure the win. Joseph Perry made seven saves to help preserve the narrow victory for the Engineers.

Look forward, RPI will next set its sights on a 12:00 pm tilt at Union next Saturday afternoon.