TROY, N.Y. – The eighth-ranked Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's lacrosse team dropped its home-opener to No. 16 Cortland, 17-10, in a battle against two nationally-recognized teams this afternoon at ECAV Stadium.

RPI was led offensively by Tyler Ruffini and Easton Morse with four points apiece, as each recorded one goal and three assists. Cooper Manzi paced the Engineers with three goals, while Sean Smith and Jackson Massaroni added two goals each.

The Engineers struck first when Smith finished a Ruffini feed at 11:06 of the opening quarter, but Cortland answered with four of the next five goals to move in front 4-3 after 15 minutes. Manzi kept RPI within a goal twice in the period with a pair of unassisted finishes, including an equalizer at 2:41 before Cortland regained the lead late.

Cortland opened the second quarter with consecutive tallies to extend its cushion to 6-3, but RPI responded with a push to tighten the game before halftime. Manzi scored his third of the day unassisted at 10:45, Bryce Allen followed with an unassisted finish two minutes later, and Massaroni converted on the man-up off a Morse setup with under five minutes to go in the frame.

After Cortland briefly stretched the margin again, RPI found the back of the net two times in the final minute of the half. Ruffini scored off a Morse assist with 44 seconds left and Massaroni buried another extra-man opportunity with 15 ticks remaining, assisted once again from Morse, to send the teams to the break with Cortland holding a 9-8 lead.

The third quarter proved decisive, as Cortland used a six-goal period to seize control. The Red Dragons scored three times in the opening four minutes and later added two more to build a 15-9 advantage despite RPI's man-up answer from Morse midway through the stanza. RPI opened the fourth-quarter scoring when Smith finished a man-up goal off a Ruffini feed at 9:13 to make it 15-10, but Cortland closed the contest with two late goals to secure the 17-10 final.

Defensively, Ben Shocket scooped a team-high eight ground balls and Dylan Slimak caused three turnovers as RPI finished with a 35-30 edge in ground balls.

The Engineers will look to regroup with a Saturday afternoon meeting at SUNY Geneseo.