The RPI men’s soccer team traveled to Purchase, N.Y., to participate in the Valiant Classic last weekend. The Red Hawks split their previous two games with a loss to Ramapo College and a win over SUNY New Paltz while competing in the Union Classic. Anxious to get back out on the field, on Saturday the men squared off against host Manhattanville College in the second game of the tournament.
Rensselaer looked good early on in the game and grabbed the first lead at the 9:38 mark on a goal from sophomore Lincoln Field. Senior Aaron Gundle started the action with a re-start, sending the ball into play. Field got to the ball and headed it in past Manhattanville’s goalie Jason Torres for the score.
While that would be the lone goal of the first half, the action remained very intense, with both teams coming close to scoring on multiple occasions. Both keepers were busy in the first—Torres stopping three shots, while freshman goalie Alex Penny made two saves for RPI. The Red Hawks outshot the Valiants 8-7 in the half, held a 3-1 advantage in corner kicks, and headed into halftime with a 1-0 lead.
When play resumed, it didn’t take long for the Red Hawks to make something happen on the field once again, this time gaining some breathing room. With just 28 seconds burned off the freshly started clock, sophomore Ben Russell scored his first goal of the season. After a shot was sent to the corner, a defender re-directed the ball to the other side of the field where he was waiting, and upon receiving the ball, Russell sent it into the open net for the tally.
Rensselaer’s strong team defense preserved the shut-out for the remainder of the contest, and the men won by a score of 2-0. The Valiants could only get one shot off in the final 45 minutes of play, a testament to how the Red Hawks continually kept the pressure on their opponents. For the second half, RPI outshot Manhattanville 7-1, and held a 15-8 advantage for the game. Penny made three saves for the Red Hawks while his counterpart Torres made four for the Valiants.
On Sunday, Rensselaer took on St. John Fisher College in the third game of the tournament. Sophomore Luke Lennox put the Cardinals on top 1-0 at the 18:18 mark, scoring off of a penalty kick to give his team the game’s first points.
From there, neither team could gain an edge. While St. John Fisher only outshot the Red Hawks by two, 10-8, in the first half, the Cardinals managed to hold on to the slim lead headed into halftime. They did, however, have a 5-0 advantage in corner kicks, and committed three fewer fouls, six compared to RPI’s nine, for the opening frame.
In the second half, the goal-scoring action intensified. Freshman Andrew Hynes increased the Cardinals’ lead at the 52:50 mark when he scored on a shot that went just past a diving Jeff Krywanczyk, a senior goalie, for the goal. Andrew McIntosh then blasted another shot past the RPI net-minder to give St. John Fisher a commanding three-goal lead late in the game.
Sophomore Kevin Swift got RPI on the board at the 83:36 mark, scoring off of a restart by Gundle, but that would be all the Red Hawks could muster up for the day, falling by a final score of 3-1.
Freshman Adam Durst made seven saves for the victorious Cardinals, while Penny and Krywanczyk made two and six saves, respectively. On the day, the Red Hawks were outshot 25-14, and St. John Fisher held a 9-1 advantage in corner kicks, yet committed three more fouls, 17 compared to 14.
With the loss, RPI’s record now stands at 3-1-1 in the young season. Next up for the Rensselaer men will be the opening of Liberty League Play. The Red Hawks will take on St. Lawrence University on Friday at 4 pm, and then Clarkson University on Saturday at 2 pm. Both games are away, giving way to a short one game homestand on September 26 versus Alfred College.
