Engineers unsuccessful in upsetting No. 4 Union

With both teams coming off of losses, Rensselaer and Union fought to regain footing in the Liberty League.

Within the first minute of the game, Union opened the scoring off a ground ball pick up. After much back and forth between the two teams, Union capitalized on an Engineer turnover for their second goal. With 7:52 remaining in the quarter, Ryan Raftery ’22 ended the Engineers’ drought with his unassisted goal. In the next onset, Union remained on offense with two shots hitting the iron. After recovering the ball near midfield, Union strung passes together resulting in a goal with 4:39 remaining in the quarter. RPI kept the pressure on Union’s defense with multiple shots on goal, but ultimately, the quarter ended 3–1 in the Dutchmen’s favor.

The Engineers came back with vigor in the second quarter. After three and a half minutes, Cooper Urban ’22 scored the first goal of the second quarter when Luke Murphy ’23 sent him a pass with three seconds left on the shot clock. Less than a minute after, the Dutchmen responded with another goal.

After a five-minute goal drought, Rensselaer’s Connor Glosner ’22 netted a goal off an assist from Murphy. RPI kept their momentum as Angelo Venuto ’24 won the faceoff immediately after the last goal and sent the ball to Devon Boyko ’24 who tied the score: 4–4. Union dominated the remainder of the quarter, scoring twice and bringing the halftime score to 6–4.

Venuto took the faceoff at the start of the third quarter and darted to the goal, planting the ball in the bottom left corner of the cage within five seconds of the whistle. Despite Venuto’s strong start for Rensselaer, by the end of the quarter, things were looking bleak for the Engineers. Union barraged RPI’s net and extended themselves to a five-goal lead with a score of 10–5.

Although morale was down from the previous beating of last quarter, the Engineers came back to their senses in the fourth. Under four minutes into the fourth quarter, Urban used a screen by Murphy to give himself a gap to score for RPI. In the play after, the Engineers gained possession of the ball due to a faceoff violation. After some passing, Glosner drove from behind the net to hook a shot in for the Engineers. Rensselaer remained on the attack as shots continued to be thrown. A shot from Murphy went wide, so Trey Froehlich ’22 recovered the ball and sent a pass to an open Trey Berry ’25 who wound up for a remarkable goal with 9:37 remaining on the clock.

The Engineers were back in the game with only a two-goal difference. Both teams battled for possession and to find the back of the cage. Murphy took a drive and popped the ball back up to Urban who delivered the ball to Berry on his right. Berry whipped the ball past the goalie for another goal with 2:53 left.

All the Engineers needed was one more goal to tie the Dutchmen. Unfortunately, a faceoff violation and a penalty gave Union possession and an extra-man opportunity. With RPI down a player, Union landed a goal quickly; they gained possession again off the faceoff and let the clock run as they maintained possession of the ball. Although the Engineers pressured the Dutchmen, they were still able to piece together passes resulting in a goal with about a minute remaining.

The final score was 12–9 with Union victorious. The Engineers made a valiant effort to keep Union from an even greater victory. Rensselaer’s record for the Liberty League is 3–2; meanwhile, their overall record is 9–3. For their Senior Day game, RPI will play St. Lawrence University at 1 pm on April 23. Click here for the box score.