Troy, NY (3/26/11) – Senior Devin Arnold (Buffalo, NY/Canisius) scored a game-high five goals, including four on the man-up, while adding two assists to lead the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's lacrosse team past Montclair State, 14-7 on Saturday.  With the victory, the #9 Engineers improve to 6-1 and have now won each of their last five games.  The Red Hawks fall to 2-5 on the season with their third straight loss.

It was a close opening quarter that saw the two teams tied at 2-2, but Rensselaer quickly took control in the second stanza with four tallies and a 6-3 advantage heading into the second half.  Leading the way for the Engineers was Arnold, who netted four goals, including back-to-back shots on the man-up near the end of the second quarter.

The Engineers struck first in the third quarter as senior captain Conor Chocheles (Babylon, NY/Babylon) connected off a feed from Arnold at the 9:52 mark.  Montclair State pulled it to 7-4 less than a minute later as rookie MICHAEL CHIAVETTA (Clifton, NJ/Clifton) got one past netminder James Manchester (Niskayuna, NY/Niskayuna) on a quick shot down the middle, but RPI answered with goals from junior Andrew Miller (New Hartford, NY/New Hartford) and Arnold to make it a 9-4 lead with 7:10 remaining in the third quarter.

Montclair State continued to fight into the offensive zone and it paid off as junior MATTHEW PRONGAY (Edison, NJ/Edison) scored at 5:09 and classmate TYLER METH (Basking Ridge, NJ/Ridge) had an incredible individual effort to close the gap to 9-6 with 3:45 left as he came in on the right side and fired a behind the back shot past Manchester.

A late goal by rookie Scott O'Leary (Grafton, MA/Milton Academy) pushed the Engineers lead back to four (10-6) heading into the final quarter and RPI put the game out of reach as it capitalized with three man-up goals and four straight tallies to seal the win.  Sophomore Wes Rudy (Doylestown, PA/The Hill School) scored with 10:03 remaining, while senior Nick Billy (Redding, CT/Joel Barlow) followed less than two minutes later with another extra attacker score.

The Engineers dominated the stat sheet, holding a 43-19 advantage in shots for the game, including a 28-13 margin on goal.  Rensselaer, which went 8 for 12 on the man-up advantage, had 37 ground balls to MSU's 24, including a game-best 11 from junior face-off specialist Brian Larkin (Florham Park, NJ/Seton Hall Prep.).  He was also 15-24 on the draw with a goal and an assist.

In addition to Arnold, who added two ground balls, Rensselaer saw O'Leary add two goals and two assists.  Chocheles had a goal and two assists, while five other scorers had goals.  Between the pipes, Manchester stopped six shots to move to 6-1 on the season.

Montclair State was led by a goal and two assists from Meth.  Senior ROBERT SINICOLA (North Caldwell, NJ/West Essex) added a team-best two goals, while four others notched goals.  Junior MARK GLANDER (Vernon, NJ/Vernon Township) shouldered the loss, stopping 14 shots.  Rookie netminder MICHAEL DORN (Blairstown, NJ/North Warren) played the final two seconds in goal following a late penalty against Glander.

The Red Hawks will look to get back on the winning track on Wednesday, March 30 as they host Drew University at 7:00 pm.