| 3/30/2005 6:13:50 PM
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ELMIRA, NY - The RIT Men's Lacrosse team (2-4, 1-0 Empire 8) opened up their Empire 8 season in a big way, scoring the game's final eight goals, breaking a 3-3 third quarter tie en route to a commanding 11-3 win over Elmira College on Wednesday afternoon.
RIT led 3-1 at halftime, before the Soaring Eagles came out firing in the third quarter, scoring two quick goals to tie the game at 3. First-year attackman Andrew Ruocco (Corning, NY/Corning East) (Corning, NY/Corning East) gave the Tigers a 4-3 lead with 12:32 remaining in the quarter and RIT cruised from their, scoring three more goals in the session and then adding four more unanswered goals in the final quarter to seal the win.
Six different Tigers scored goals, led by junior captain David Thering (Fairport, NY/Fairport) (Fairport, NY/Fairport), who tallied three times and added two assists. The third-year attackman is just four goals shy of becoming just the 11th player in Tiger history to reach 100 goals in a career.
Zach Bednarz (Webster, NY/Webster) (Webster, NY/Webster), Stephen Papa (Niskayuna, NY/Niskayuna) (Niskayuna, NY/Niskayuna) and Joe Argese (Jordan, NY/Jordan-Elbridge) (Jordan, NY/Jordan-Elbridge) scored two goals apiece. Bednarz also tallied a team-high eight ground balls and was a major reason why RIT controlled the midfield.
Colin Jesien (Cambridge, MD/Cambridge-S. Dorchester) (Cambridge, MD/Cambridge-S. Dorchester) scored a goal and recorded two assists in the win. Brandon Wilkin (Penfield, NY/Penfield) (Penfield, NY/Penfield) recorded an assist.
Junior midfielder Jacob Cannan (Irondequoit, NY/Irondequoit) (Irondequoit, NY/Irondequoit) was once again excellent on face-offs, winning 12-of-18 on the afternoon.
In net, John Foley (Guelph, Ontario/Our Lady of Lourdes) (Guelph, ONT/Our Lady of Lourdes) picked up the win, stopping five shots for his first victory of the season. Brad Conlon (Ottawa, Ontario/Bridgeton Academy) (Ottawa, ONT/Bridgeton Academy) also played in net, stopping four shots.
The Tiger defense was stout, allowing just 21 shots, while killing-off all four Elmira extra-man opportunities.
RIT out-shot Elmira 43-21 and recorded 43 ground balls to Elmira's 30.
Ashton McLean scored two goals for Elmira (4-2, 0-1 Empire 8), who saw their four-game winning streak come to an end.
RIT is back in action on Saturday, as they travel to conference foe Alfred University to play the Saxons. Game-time is scheduled for 1 p.m.
