TROY, N.Y. – A dozen years ago, the No. 13 nationally-ranked RPI men's soccer team scored an early second-half goal that stood up and eliminated No. 20 nationally-ranked Eastern Connecticut State University from the 2009 NCAA Division III tournament at Renwyck Field on the RPI campus in the first meeting between the programs.

Fast-forward to Tuesday, and the No. 4 regionally-ranked Engineers repeated that result, scoring the only goal with 10:22 left to defeat the No. 8 regionally-ranked Warriors at ECAV Stadium on the RPI campus.

Coming off a solid 3-0 win at Keene State College – which defeated Eastern, 1-0, in the 2019 Little East Conference finals -- four days ago, RPI (4-1-1) got an unassisted goal from senior midfielder Billy Chissoe on one of only five shots it put on net against Eastern sophomore keeper Dylan Pallanck (Willington) to record its fourth straight win  and halt Eastern's (4-3-0) three-match shutout winning streak.

All of Eastern's losses this year have come against regionally or nationally-ranked inter-regional opponents (all by shutout, one of which was in overtime). All seven of Eastern's matches this year have ended in shutout, for the better or worse.

Chissoe's game-winner came in the 80^th minute and came soon after the 13^th of RPI's 14 corner kicks (Eastern totaled six in the match), when the deflected ball landed at his feet and he delivered his second goal in two matches. Chissoe corralled the loose ball near the penalty spot and fired a shot into the roof of the net to break the long stalemate. It was only the fifth goal allowed this year by Pallanck, who features a season 0.78 goals-against average (0.00 against four New England opponents).

 In a hard-fought battle of NCAA contenders, six players on each side played all 90 minutes. In his seventh straight start this year, Pallanck made four saves while 6-foot-4 inch, 200 pound RPI senior keeper Luke Brezak needed only three saves on eight Eastern shots.

Two of Brezak's saves came in the last nine minutes. The first of those saves off a drive by first-year starting defender Alexander Voigt (Miami, FL) and resulted in successive corner kicks. The Warriors' best chance to equalize came following that second corner kick, when the ball fell to junior Larson Richards (Mansfield) on the right side of the penalty area in the 84^th minute, but his shot was stopped and smothered by Brezak.

One of Pallanck's best saves came just 11 minutes into the match on a header by RPI senior centerback Trevor Bisson that kept the match scoreless. In the 70^th minute, Bisson then watched as his header bounced, and then glance off the post following a from the left side.

Eastern returns to LEC competition Saturday when it hosts the University of Southern Maine at Rick McCarthy Field at 3 p.m. (note change of time and venue). Richards' bomb from nearly 50 yards gave the Warriors a 1-0 win over UMass Boston in their LEC opener last Saturday.  Eastern has defeated the Huskies the last 12 times the programs have met and are 16-1-0 in the last 17 vs. USM. The last six and ten of the last 11 contests have resulted in shutout wins.

RPI Sports Information contributed to this game account.