POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - The Vassar College Men's Lacrosse team fell in its Liberty League opener against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 18-7, on Saturday afternoon at Weinberg Field. Senior Riley Olds scored three goals for the Brewers as they fell to 6-2 overall and 0-1 in conference play while the Engineers improved to 4-4 overall and 1-0 in Liberty League action.

RPI scored the first five goals of the contest as Anthony Mazzella tallied the first two goals while Luke Murphy, Cooper Manzi and Angelo Venuto each recorded a tally to give the Engineers a 5-0 lead after the opening quarter.

Olds put Vassar on the board at the 11:29 mark of the second quarter on an assist from sophomore Shane O'Hara before the Engineers scored the last three goals to close the half as Evan Whatley found the back of the net along with the second goal of the game for both Manzi and Murphy.

Dan Myers opened the scoring in the second half for RPI along with a goal each from Whatley and Murphy to go ahead 11-1 at the 7:53 mark. O'Hara potted a man-up goal at the 7:16 mark on a feed from junior Troy Santise before the Engineers expanded their lead to 13-2 on goals from Myers and Cameron Howley. Olds scored his second of the game at 1:10 while Sean Mullen closed the scoring for RPI with a goal with 11 seconds left in the quarter.

RPI scored the first three goals of the fourth quarter as Nolan Smith, Caleb Oswari and Cooper Carr each tallied their first goal of the game. The Brewers rattled off four straight tallies in a four minute stretch as Olds scored his third of the game along with goals from senior James Nicholas, junior Ian Zumpano and junior Dylan McFarland. Brady Pitcher scored the final goal of the contest for the Engineers on a feed from Gavin Cousineau to earn a 18-7 road victory.

Olds finished with four points on the day and picked up three ground balls for Vassar. Five Brewers scored one goal while Nicholas added two ground balls and two caused turnovers. Senior Dillon Dierman tallied a team-high six ground balls and added a caused turnover while junior Jack Palmer and freshman Dan Bader each had three grounds balls. Bader and Nicholas led the squad in caused turnovers with two while Dierman was 11-for-20 in faceoffs. Sophomore Drew Quinn took the loss in goal and made seven saves. Senior Jack Bagin made four saves in goal while classmate Aidan Gallagher added a save.

Murphy led the team in goals with three while Manzi finished with five points for the Engineers. Mazzella, Myers and Whatley each tallied two goals while Angelo Venuto picked up eight ground balls and was 11-for-16 in faceoffs. Jack Green recorded a game-high four caused turnovers and added seven ground balls along with Tyler Ruffini, Ty Stanek and Drew Teff each tallying two caused turnovers. Joseph Perry earned the win in net while making 10 saves along with Garrett Gagnon making three saves.

The Brewers will return to action at home on Tuesday evening against the United States Merchant Marine Academy. Face-off with the Mariners at Weinberg Field is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.