TROY, N.Y. - The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's lacrosse team scored the first seven goals of the game and the No. 20 Engineers went on to defeat Oneonta, 18-6, in a non-league contest at East Campus Stadium. The victory was the eighth straight for RPI, which is now 8-1. The visiting Red Dragons fall to 4-5.

Rensselaer needed just 1:11 to get on the scoreboard as senior Matthew Gilman found the back of the net off a pass from Lucas Bastarache. Junior JT Kelly scored less than a minute later (12:58) and Zach Lukas tallied 25 seconds after that off an assist from Kelly. The tandem hooked up again, this tme with 11:20 left, before senior Cliff Kigar scored twice for a 6-0 lead with 7:10 left in the opening frame. Defenseman Quinn Fettig closed the quarter with his second goal of the season when he caused a turnover, picked up a ground ball and the received a feed from Kelly with 5:25 remaining in the first.

Kelly had a goal and three assists after the first 15 minutes and finished with two goals and five helpers for seven points. He also had five shots (4 on goal) with three ground balls. Lukas registered three goals and two assists with two ground balls in the game, while Kigar scored three times with three pickups and a caused turnover. Freshman Ryan Cole also finished with a hat trick and Jordan Gans scored twice. Five others had single markers for the Engineers, who had 12 assists on their 18 goals.

RPI won 23 of 28 faceoffs, including 13 of 16 from Kevin Frega and 7 of 8 from Tyler Hancock, who had a game-high eight ground balls. Frega and Corey Burns had five ground balls apiece. Senior Parker Smith earned the win in goal with three saves in 45 minutes.

Oneonta had five different goal scorers with Thomas More collecting two. Shane Carroll (Poughkeepsie/Arlington) had a team-high six ground balls and Zachary Flynn (Stony Brook/Ward Melville) stopped 11 shots in 45 minutes of work.

The Red Dragons got on the board early in the second quarter on a Jimmy Kickel (South Setauket/Ward Melville) goal to make it 7-1, but RPI answered on the first of the game for Gans. Oneonta's Moore made it 8-2, but RPI scored four straight, from four different players, for a 12-2 lead at halftime. The Engineers outscored the Red Dragons by two in the third (4-2) and the teams were even (2-2) in the fourth.

RPI, which held a 48-18 advantage in shots and 57-27 bulge in ground balls, is back on the field on Saturday when it hosts No. 1 RIT at 1pm. Oneonta plays at No. 15 SUNY Cortland on Saturday at 1pm.