AMHERST, Mass. – Sophomore attack Bob Gross scored four goals to lead the Amherst College men's lacrosse team to a 14-12 win over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and hand the previously unbeaten Engineers their first loss of the season on Wednesday evening at Gooding Field.

The Mammoths, ranked 15th in the nation in the latest USILA Division III poll, improved to 9-4 on the season while RPI, tied for second in the poll, fell to 13-1.

The Mammoths are back in action on Saturday (April 20) at 1 p.m., visiting defending NESCAC champion Tufts.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

* The Mammoths struck first when sophomore defenseman Thompson Lau caught the RPI goalie out of his cage and ripped a shot from midfield to score his seventh goal of the season.

* After senior Zach Swanson scored for RPI to level the score, sophomores Bennett Chow and Alex Vlacich netted goals to give the Mammoths a lead they never relinquished.

* The Mammoths scored four straight goals to open the second quarter as first-year Brendan Reilly kicked off the run to continue his streak of scoring in every game this season. That was the only goal in the first 10 minutes of the quarter before Amherst scored three goals in two minutes. A man-up tally from junior Jack Murphy was followed by Gross' first goal of the game and the first goal of the season for junior Ben Bruno.

* Sophomore Sean Smith scored for Rensselaer to break up the run but Gross netted two goals in the final minute of the quarter to give the Mammoths a 9-3 halftime lead.

* The Engineers found their stride in the second half and showed why they brought an unblemished record into the contest. The two sides traded goals throughout the third quarter before junior Cooper Roman scored for RPI to cut the Amherst lead to 13-8.

* The Mammoths withstood a fourth-quarter rally from the Engineers as RPI scored four goals to open the final frame and cut the Amherst lead to one. Graduate student Erik Ojert scored a pair before Smith scored with eight minutes to go and junior Evan Whatley struck with 5:38 to play to make the score 13-12.

* With no margin for error, the Mammoths did not allow a shot on goal for the rest of the game while Lau and senior Ryan Rahbany each caused turnovers to gain possessions for the Mammoths. Reilly put the exclamation point on Amherst's victory, scoring on an open net with 12 seconds to play as the Engineers tried to force a turnover.



BY THE NUMBERS:

* Gross had a five-point game with four goals and an assist, his sixth five-point game of the season.

* Reilly tallied two goals and two assists for the Mammoths for his seventh consecutive multi-goal game.

* Ojert led the Engineers in scoring with three goals and two assists.

* The Engineers outshot the Mammoths by a 54-40 margin and held a 28-21 advantage in shots on goal, but sophomore goalie Brooks Catlin made a career-high 16 saves for Amherst and has now tallied double-digit saves in all five of his starts this season.

* Senior Angelo Venuto won 19-of-30 faceoffs for the Engineers and picked up 11 ground balls as RPI had a 47-21 advantage in ground balls.