TROY, N.Y. - The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute men's lacrosse team scored the first seven goals of the game en route to a 15-5 victory over Bard College in the Raptors' Liberty League opener on Saturday afternoon.

The 20th-ranked Engineers improved to 4-2 overall and 1-1 in the Liberty League; Bard fell to 3-3, 0-1.

RPI dominated possession early and was up 3-0 heading toward the end of the first quarter, but a pair of goals by Breanainn McNeally (Severna Park, MD) less than a minute apart, and an unassisted goal by Owen Putnam (Round Lake, NY) made it 6-0 after one quarter.

Bard responded with a much tighter defensive performance in the second quarter, and the Raptors outscored RPI 2-1 in that stanza. George Goceljak and John Palermo both scored unassisted, and it was 7-2 at halftime.

But RPI's depth proved to be too much, as the Engineers outscored Bard 8-3 in the second half. RPI collected 42 ground balls to Bard's 17, and outshot the Raptors, 35-18. McNeally finished with four goals and five assists.

Bard finished with single goals from Palermo, Goceljak, Emmet O'Connell, Blake Burnley and Sam Smith. O'Connell and Corey Rich had an assist apiece. William Baffuto caused three turnovers, and senior goalie Troy Ludtka made 10 saves.

Bard will next play a non-league game at SUNY Poly on Wednesday night. You can follow that game live right here.