CORTLAND, NY – The Cortland men's lacrosse team opened the season with a 9-4 loss on Wednesday evening to nationally sixth-ranked R.P.I. on Grady Field. Cortland falls to 0-1, while R.P.I. improves to 4-0 on the year. 
 
Sean Kavanagh (North Canton, OH/Hoover) led the Red Dragons with three goals, while Ryan Scanlon (Cornelius, NC/William Amos Hough) provided the other Cortland goal. Travis Wagner (Penfield) made 19 saves in goal for the Red Dragons. Christian Lembo (Farmingdale) and Jack Nucerino (Fayetteville/Fayetteville-Manlius) each had two caused turnovers. 
 
Joseph Perry made nine saves in goal for the Engineers, and also scored a pair of goals in the win. Erik Ojert netted twice, and Tyler Ruffini had a goal and an assist. Angelo Venuto won 11-of-15 faceoffs and scooped up eight ground balls. 
 
After Wagner was able to stop the first four shots on goal for R.P.I., Ruffini got the scoring started exactly nine minutes into the first quarter. The Engineers doubled their advantage with 1:30 remaining in the quarter, as Perry made a save on a Ryan Smith (East Islip) shot attempt, and carried the ball the length of the field before firing a shot past Wagner for a goalie goal. 
 
Cortland pulled to within a goal with nine seconds left in the frame, as Kavanagh drove down the right side towards the cage, and fired a shot into the top right corner of the net. 
 
R.P.I. scored three times in the second quarter, including Perry's second goal of the game, a fifty yard shot from the Engineers' zone, with 37 seconds left in the half. 
 
The Engineers made it 7-2 less than one minute into the third quarter, before Scanlon netted a goal on a shot from about 12 yards out after a feed from Nick Stoecker (East Setauket/Ward Melville). Kavanagh netted his second goal of the game from nearly the same spot as Scanlon's goal off of an assist from Sam Rothman (Dix Hillls/Half Hollow Hills East), pulling Cortland to within four at the end of the third quarter. 
 
Kavanagh completed his hat trick with 11:45 remaining in the fourth quarter, cutting to the left to blow past a defender, before rifling a shot into the top right corner of the net. 
 
The Engineer were able to re-establish a five-goal advantage over the next minutes, and held Cortland scoreless for the remainder of the game to secure the victory.
 
Team                  1-2-3-4  Final
R.P.I.                 2-4-1-2      9
Cortland             1-0-2-1     4

Scoring (Goals-Assists):
R.P.I.: Joseph Perry 2-0, Erik Ojert 2-0, Tyler Ruffini 1-1, Cooper Manzi 1-0, Gavin Cousineau 1-0, Easton Morse 0-1, Zach Swanson 0-1, Owen Stesney 0-1, Derek Rivers 0-1
Cortland: Sean Kavanagh 3-0, Ryan Scanlon 1-0, Nick Stoecker 0-1, Sam Rothman 0-1

Goalkeepers:
R.P.I.:Joseph Perry, 9 saves (4 GA in 60:00)
Cortland: Travis Wagner, 19 saves (9 GA in 60:00)

Shots: R.P.I. 48, Cortland 27
Ground Balls: R.P.I. 39, Cortland 18
Turnovers: R.P.I. 27, Cortland 23
Caused Turnovers: R.P.I. 13, Cortland 11 
Clears: Cortland 21-of-29, R.P.I. 24-of-27
Faceoffs Won: R.P.I. 12, Cortland 4
Penalties: R.P.I. 2-2:00, Cortland 2-1:30
Extra-Man Offense: R.P.I. 0-2, Cortland 0-2

Records after game: Cortland (Red Dragons) 0-1, R.P.I. (Engineers) 4-0 (ranked sixth nationally by USILA)