Release from RPI Athletic Communications
COLD SPRING HARBOR, N.Y. -- Patrick Finn scored four goals to lead Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) to a 10-6 win over Ursinus in non-conference men's lacrosse action on Sunday afternoon at Cold Spring Harbor High School. With the win, their fourth in a row, the Engineers improve to 5-2 overall, while the Bears drop their first game of the season, now standing at 4-1.
Neither team scored until 5:23 of the first quarter, asJake Weidner got the Engineers on the board with an unassisted goal. Ursinus outshot Rensselaer, 8-5, in the period, but RPI was able to take advantage of a Bear turnover, as Jake Baxter picked up the groundball to start the clear, which ended with the Weidner shot.
Ursinus tied the game at 11:27 of the second, as Ian Desenberg scored an unassisted tally. RPI would score the next three goals, all coming on the man-up, to take a 4-1 lead with 3:11 to play. Breanainn McNeally took an assist at 9:37 to give the Engineers the lead, while Weidner scored his second of the day at 7:49, with a helper from Matt Hall. Finn netted his first of the day with an assist from Casey Colligan to end the rally. Ursinus would pull back within 4-3 before the half, as Mark Stratton and Ian Moore scored consecutive goals in the final 2:04.
Finn added an unassisted score to start the scoring in the second half to push the RPI lead to 5-3 at 14:38. The teams exhanged goals for the rest of the third quarter. Desenberg took an assist from Stratton for Ursinus at 13:23, while Finn scored his third at 7:48 to keep the Engineers ahead by two. Stratton passed off to Desenberg again at 5:51 to pull the Bears back within one, but Colligan wrapped up the scoring with a tally with just 1:21, taking an assist from Scott Crow.
Rensselaer outscored Ursinus 3-1 in the final quarter to set the final score. Pat Hogan netted an unassisted tally at 8:42, but the Bears won the ensuing face off and Mike Durst scored just 20 seconds later. The Engineers would get goals from Finn and Hall in the final four minutes, including Hall's tally with just 27 seconds to go, to end the game.
Ursinus outshot RPI, 45-27, in the game, and also led in faceoff wins by a 14-6 margin. The Bears held a slight 40-39 lead in groundballs. However, Rensselaer went 3-for-3 on the man-up, while holding Ursinus to 0-2 with the extra-man advantage.
David Gibbs made a career-high 19 saves in the goal for RPI in a complete-game effort. Brian Neff stopped 11 opposing shots for Ursinus.
Rensselaer kicks off conference play on Saturday, visiting Vassar at 1 p.m. Ursinus visits Swarthmore in Centennial Conference action on aturday at 12 p.m.