PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – The Plattsburgh State men's lacrosse team opened its first of three straight home games Wednesday afternoon against RPI, falling to the Engineers 9-6.

The Cardinals opened the first quarter strong when senior attackman Brendan Damm scored two of the first three goals.

Mathew Prokesch would close the scoring for the opening fifteen minutes giving Plattsburgh State a small 3-2 lead heading into the second quarter.

However, the second and third quarters would belong to the Engineers as RPI outscored Plattsburgh State 7-2, including scoring six consecutive goals in the middle stanzas.

Breanaiann McNeally and Lucas Bastarache would combined for five of the seven RPI goals over that stretch. McNeally netted two straight in a 30 second span to tie the game 4-4 before giving the Engineers their first lead of the evening at 5-4. Bastarache would close the half and then open the third quarter with a pair of his own goals to give RPI a 7-4 advantage.

Matt Hall of RPI collected his 14th goal of the season with 7:26 left in the third quarter to double the Cardinals at 8-4.

McNeally would finish up his hat-trick performance and score his team-high 25^th goal of the season on a man-up opportunity with exactly four minutes left in the third.

Face-off man Joey Kromer ended the RPI run eight seconds after McNeally's third. The senior won the draw then proceeded to sprint down the field before ripping a shot and cutting the RPI lead to 9-5.

Senior Patrick Nash would claw the Cardinals back to within three at 9-6, converting a man-up goal of their own; but it would be the only goal scored in the final quarter as RPI stifled the Plattsburgh State offense of a comeback opportunity.

Matt Massaria finished with nine saves for Plattsburgh State. David Gibbs corralled a game-high 11 for RPI.

The Cardinals owned a slight 11-8 and 37-34 edges in faceoffs and shots respectively over the Engineers.

Both teams took a pair of penalties and  finished 1-for-2 on the man-up advantage.

The Cardinals slip back to .500 at 4-4 after Wednesday's defeat. They will look to turnaround their fortunes when they welcome No. 8 St. Lawrence to the Field House Complex for a 7 p.m. North Country showdown on April 6^th. Plattsburgh State had defeated the Saints in the previous two seasons.