TROY, NY (April 11, 2018) – A career-high five points from sophomore Kyle Cherry had the Vassar men's lacrosse team positioned for a win over No. 20 RPI, before the Engineers snuck out the one goal victory, 15-14, on their home turf.
 
The Brewers held the early 3-1 lead after Liam Neville got the Vassar offense started with a dodge down the left side of the field. Nick Diamond and Kyle Cherry then scored goals two and three for Vassar to give them the early advantage.
 
The Engineers offense came alive over the next two and a half minutes as they poured in six straight goals to grab a 7-3 lead. Dekker Stebel's tally with five ticks left in the first quarter made it 11 total goals in the first 15 minutes between the two league foes.
 
Both sides scored just once in the second frame as Stebel fired home the score for a 8-5 line at the break.
 
Vassar swapped out keepers to start the second half as Erik Mikelinich replaced Matt Boyd between the pipes. The Brewers won the third quarter outscoring RPI 4-3 to make it 9-11 heading into the final 15 minutes.
 
The Brewers controlled the final quarter and outscored the Engineers 5-4, but it wasn't enough to overcome the two-goal deficit. After RPI four score game, Stebel registered back-to-back markers to bring the Brewres within two. Four minutes later on the man advantage, Diamond freed his hands for the shot and made it a one goal game.
 
Another goal for RPI made it 14-12 in favor of the home team, but Vassar again capitalized on a penalty. Cherry fed Tomas Meade to cut it to one with over four minutes left.
 
With the Brewers down by two, Cherry curled around the cage and beat his defender for his fourth goal of the game. Now down by one, the Brewers had to make a stop and get the ball back. After Zack Henig forced the turnover, Vassar cleared the ball to their offensive end and called a timeout.
 
The Brewers managed two shots on their final possession with Meade and Cherry firing wide of the target. Cherry's shot with just two seconds on the clock, just ever so slightly missed the cage for the game tying score.
 
In the end, RPI held on for the one-goal league win, improving their conference record to 4-1.
 
Cherry tallied a career-best four goals and one assist on the night. Both Diamond (3 goals, 1 assist) and Stebel (4 goals) recorded four points. Meade tacked on two goals while Neville had one. Michael Mullen finished the game with one assist.
 
Boyd made seven saves in the first half while Mikelinich picked up five saves in relief.
 
Matthew Lowery took all 32 faceoffs, winning 19 and collecting 11 groundballs.
 
The Brewers celebrate Senior Day on Saturday as they host Clarkson at 1:00 p.m. on Gordon Field.