The men’s lacrosse team split the week, falling to the Oneonta State Red Dragons by a score of 13-11 last Wednesday and claiming an 11-10 overtime victory in a dramatic finish against the Elmira College Soaring Eagles on Saturday. Heading into next week’s Liberty League action, Rensselaer is 2-3 overall, while Oneonta finished 3-4 and Elmira fell to 1-4.
In Wednesday’s match-up against Oneonta, five different players tallied two or more goals, including a three-goal effort by Red Dragon freshman Blair Hanson. Finishing the first half ahead 7-6, Oneonta sophomore Ryan Waibel added another at 13:05 of the third quarter to increase the Red Dragons’ lead to two. Less than 30 seconds later, the Red Hawks responded with a goal by sophomore Conor Chocheles to once again cut the lead down to one, 8-7.
Oneonta added three straight goals to take the lead 11-7 with 7:15 remaining in the third quarter. Rensselaer senior Josh Secora and freshman Brian Larkin were able to pull RPI within two. However, Waibel added another goal for Oneonta to bring the score 12-9 into the fourth quarter. Closing out the game, Oneonta added one more goal followed by tallies from Secora and junior Brett Evans, pulling RPI to a final score of 13-11.
The Red Hawks saw Secora net a game-high three goals and one assist, as well as two goals and four assists by Chocheles, and one goal and an assist from sophomore Nick Billy.
Senior goaltender Ryan DeJordy and sophomore Angelo Luppino combined for 13 saves on the day. Despite holding a 50-40 shot advantage, the Red Hawks only posted 27 ground balls to Oneonta’s 28.
In a photo-finish ending, the Red Hawks were able to come from behind to overtake the Elmira Soaring Eagles in Saturday’s non-conference game. Tying the game in the final seconds of regulation, junior Paul Cerone tallied his fourth goal of the game in the sudden-death overtime frame to claim the win for Rensselaer.
Cerone’s first mark of the game—also the first goal of the match—came at 9:59 of the opening quarter. Evans quickly doubled the lead for the Red Hawks a minute later.
The Soaring Eagles responded with three goals, including a man-up goal by freshman Brandon Youngstrom for the 3-2 at 11:49 of the second quarter. Cerone netted two more unassisted goals to put RPI up 4-3, as both teams alternated in scoring the next three goals to end the half tied, 5-5.
The game remained close through the final minutes of play, as neither team was able to maintain a lead greater than two for the rest of regulation. Elmira held an 8-6 lead at 8:47 of the fourth quarter; however, Larkin scored six seconds later to pull RPI within one. Similar to the end of the first half, both teams traded four goals before Rensselaer’s remarkable finish sent the game into overtime.
With 19 seconds remaining in regulation, Secora’s bounce shot hit the crossbar, and an Elmira defender collected the rebound, drawing two penalties for unnecessary roughness on the play against the Soaring Eagles. The Red Hawks regained control of the ball in the final 13 seconds of play, as Chocheles connected to Evans, who was cutting across the field, to tie the game at 10.
Off the opening draw of the extra frame, Cerone took two shots on net before the ball snuck past freshman goaltender Ryan Miller for his fourth of the game.
DeJordy finished the night with seven saves for the Red Hawks, while Miller ended the day with 11 stops.
The men’s lacrosse team hosts Vassar College today on Harkness Field at 4 pm before beginning Liberty League action on Saturday against Hamilton College, with the opening face-off starting at 1 pm.
