After winning the first nine games of their season and being ranked as high as thirteenth in the nation at one point, the men’s lacrosse team has hit a slump. By losing four out of their last five games, the team will limp into the Liberty League Tournament as the fourth seed to play top-seeded St. Lawrence. When the Red Hawks are matched against the Saints this Friday, the outcome will hopefully be a different story than the 8-7 loss which they suffered to them just two weeks ago.
This past week Skidmore and Clarkson beat RPI in similar fashion, finishing with scores of 7-12 and 7-11, respectively. With the losses, the Red Hawks dropped to 10-4 overall and 3-3 in the league, while Skidmore improved to 6-6, 5-0 in the league and Clarkson to 6-9, 4-2 in the league. Clarkson finished as the No. 3 seed and thus will play Skidmore, the No. 2 seed, this Friday.
The winners Friday will play on the home field of the highest original seed on Sunday, in a match that determines the conference championship and includes an automatic NCAA tournament bid.
In Wednesday’s contest against the Skidmore Thoroughbreds in Saratoga Springs, RPI went on the board first with a goal by Mike Sampson. Six unanswered goals by Skidmore, however, put the Red Hawks in a deficit they never erased. Another goal by Sampson in the final seconds of the first quarter left the score at 6-2.
A quiet second quarter saw just a single goal from each team, as they left the field for halftime with a score of 7-3. A couple of goals by freshman Paul Cerone and sophomore Josh Secora brought Rensselaer within three at 7:03 remaining in the third. When the Thoroughbreds went on the offense again, however, this time for three straight, the visitors found themselves behind by six.
Although juniors Alex MacDiarmid and PJ McComb had goals in the final quarter, the team wasn’t able to generate the needed offense before the final whistle and the game ended 12-7. In goal, senior Ryan Michels made 11 saves in the loss.
Saturday afternoon in Potsdam wasn’t much better for the traveling Red Hawks, as rival Clarkson University took an 11-7 victory in a game that helped decide the playoffs. Leading for RPI were MacDiarmid and Secora with two goals apiece.
A quick goal by RPI Junior Lee Alexanderson just 12 seconds in set the pace for the game and the teams ended the first period tied 2-2. By the end of the half, however, Clarkson had started to pull away with a score of 5-4.
The Golden Knights returned with force, taking a page from Alexanderson’s book and scoring eight seconds into the second half. A busy third period ensued and saw Clarkson up 7-4 at 9:53. Later, RPI closed the gap to one with goals from freshman Brett Evans and McComb. By the end of the period, the Knights were up by two again, 8-6. The Red Hawks were outscored 3-1 in the final period to finish the hard-fought game at 7-11. Junior John Thibdeau had 10 saves in the loss.
The team will travel to Canton, N.Y., on Friday for a 4 pm game against No. 1 seed St. Lawrence in a must-win situation as the team fights for the NCAA playoff bid opportunity.
