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WILLIMANTIC, CT -- The RIT men's lacrosse team was defeated by Eastern Connecticut State University, 13-12 in non-conference action on Sunday afternoon. The loss snaps a two-game winning streak for the Tigers who fall to 8-4 overall on the season.
RIT out shot Eastern Connecticut 53-30, but lost the ground ball battle 54-43. The Tigers won 16-of-29 face-offs and went 26-of-33 on clearing opportunities. RIT was 1-for-5 on the man advantage.
A.J. Tingle (Cary, NC/Green Hope) led RIT with three goals.
David Burke (Fairport, NY) and
Adam Lehmann (Rochester, NY/McQuaid) each had a pair of goals, while
Adam Vlassis (Syracuse, NY/East Syracuse-Minoa) and
Iric Bressler (Stafford, VA/North Stafford) each had a goal and an assist.
Junior defenseman,
Dan MacRae (Oakville, ON/Holy Trinity) had a game-high nine ground balls. Sophomore long-stick midfielder
M.J. Kiekebelt (Caledon, ON/St. Andrews College-Aurora) grabbed six ground balls.
Robert Tonnessen (Ridgefield, CT) got the start in net. He played the first 30 minutes allowing eight goals and making five saves.
Kevin Rattigan (Chicago, IL/Western Reserve Academy) played the second half allowing five goals and making six saves.
RIT took a 1-0 lead with 10:44 remaining in the first quarter when Adam Lehmann scored an unassisted goal.
A.J. Tingle made it 2-0 with 6:16 to play in the opening quarter with a man-down goal. It was the first of his three goals on the afternoon.
The Warriors rattled off three straight goals, taking a 3-2 lead with 1:36 remaining in the quarter on a goal by Ben Raccio.
Lehmann struck for the second time in the first quarter with 1:26 remaining, tying the score at 3-3.
D.J. Simmons rounded out the scoring in the opening quarter, giving Eastern Connecticut a 4-3 lead after one quarter of play.
The Warriors struck four times in the second quarter. Eastern Connecticut sandwiched two pairs of goals in between an Iric Bressler goal to lead 8-4 at the half.
After RIT's Adam Vlassis opened the scoring in the third quarter, cutting the Warriors lead to 8-5, Eastern Connecticut scored four straight goals, opening their lead up to 12-5.
Tyler Russell (Livonia, NY) scored a man-up goal on an assist from
Sean Gillies (Oakville, ON/Albany Academy) with 31 seconds remaining in the third quarter to cut the Warriors lead down to 12-6 heading into the fourth quarter.
David Burke scored the first goal of the fourth quarter, cutting Eastern Connecticut's lead to 12-7.
Matthew Savage's goal with 10:30 to play was the final goal scored by the Warriors, increasing their lead to 13-7.
The Warriors held off a five-goal run by the Tigers down the stretch for the win. A.J. Tingle scored twice in that run, the second one coming with 51 seconds remaining to cut the lead to 13-12. Burke, Gillies and
Chris Cherami (Olwick, NJ/Seton Hall Prep) also had goals in that run, but it was too little too late for RIT.
RIT returns to Empire 8 action on Wednesday, April 22 when they travel to Utica College to face the Pioneers. Game time is at 4 pm in Utica, New York.