An 8-4 margin in the second half was the difference, as the Muhlenberg Mules fell 15-11 to the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) Engineers Saturday afternoon.

The Mules had the momentum early before being stifled for much of the second half. RPI, recently voted as the No. 16 team in the country by USILA, set the tone in the first quarter with five penalties. After entering the second down 3-2, the hosts took advantage of a second-quarter man advantage opportunity with a goal by Flynn Decker to even it up.  Ryan Neal (pictured) would tack on another to take their first lead less than a minute later.

After the Engineers responded with a goal of their own, the Mules went on a bit of a run. Luc Belvill got the scoring started with a goal at 8:12, and just 10 seconds later Michael Drago added another to make it 6-4. On that tally, Drago corralled the faceoff and went all the way by himself for the score. Two minutes later, Chase Kusko made it 7-4 courtesy of Ryan Schmitz.

Despite the momentum, RPI was able to knot the score up at seven apiece heading into halftime. From there, the visitors controlled much of the game with their defense and a goalie change. The Mules generated more shots on goal than in the first half (13 to 10 in the first), but most of those shots were from a distance. In contrast, the Mules found their success early by getting the ball into the area just beyond the crease.

Senior Kusko had a hand in seven of his team's goals, racking up two goals and five assists. He ended the game with two goals for a share of the team lead along with Neal and freshman Parker Kusko. In addition to his goal, Drago won 16 of his 28 faceoff attempts and recorded six ground balls for the team lead. Jack Paris was second in that category with four.