| 4/23/2005 3:39:05 PM

Click For Boxscore

ONEONTA, NY -- The RIT (7-6, 5-2 E8) men's lacrosse team wound up the Empire 8 regular season on Saturday against Hartwick College (9-5, 5-2 E8). The Tigers fell to the Hawks, 12-8 and clinched the third seed in next week's Empire 8 Tournament.

The Tigers opened a 2-0 lead early in the first quarter on goals from David Thering (Fairport, NY/Fairport) (Fairport, NY/Fairport) and Brandon Wilkin (Penfield, NY/Penfield) (Penfield, NY/Penfield).

Thering scored with 12:20 to play in the first on an assist from Dan Jernick (Nutley, NJ/Nutley) (Nutley, NJ/Nutley). Wilkin scored on an assist from Thering with 8:29 to play in the first to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead.

The Hawks closed out the first quarter with three straight goals to take a 3-2 lead. Pat McCormack, Mike Debrossy and Lee Austin tallied scores for Hartwick all coming in the final 5:23 of the quarter.

Brian Miller made it 4-2 Hartwick with his goal coming with 12:45 to play in the second on an assist from Noah Hallander.

Freshman Andrew Ruocco (Corning, NY/Corning East) (Corning, NY/Corning East) pulled RIT to within a goal at 4-3 with his first goal of the game on an assist from Thering midway through the second.

Mike Rose and McCormack closed out the scoring in the first half for the Hawks, giving them a 6-3 lead at the break.

Mike DeBrossy made it 7-3 early in the third quarter with his unassisted goal with 13:36 to play in the quarter.

Ruocco scored his second goal of the game with 12:00 minutes to play in the third on an assist from Zach Bednarz (Webster, NY/Webster) (Webster NY/Webster Schroeder), making it 7-4.

The Hawks ripped off four straight goals to close the third and open the fourth, giving them an 11-4 lead.

Zach Bednarz (Webster, NY/Webster) scored his lone goal of the day with 9:51 to play in regulation which cut Hartwick's lead to 11-5.

Thering made it 11-6 with his unassisted goal with 7:03 to play in the fourth.

Brian Prescott scored on an assist from Devin Poole with 3:38 to play to give the Hawks a 12-6 advantage.

Thering scored with 2:28 to play to pull the Tigers to within six at 12-7.

Ruocco scored on an assist from Joe Argese (Jordan, NY/Jordan-Elbridge) (Jordan,NY/Jordan-Elbridge) to make it 12-8, Hartwick, with 1:40 to play. However, it wasn't enough as the Hawks killed off the final 1:40 for the win.

Thering led RIT with six points on three goals and three assists. Andrew Ruocco (Corning, NY/Corning East) added three goals, while Zach Bednarz (Webster, NY/Webster) had a goal and an assist.

John Foley (Guelph, Ontario/Our Lady of Lourdes) (Guelph, Ontario/Our Lady of Lourdes) played all 60 minutes in net for the Tigers, making 11 saves and allowing 12 goals.

These two teams will face each other next Friday in the semifinals of the Empire 8 Tournament. That game will take place in Oneonta, New York at will get underway at 4 p.m. RIT will be the third seed, while Hartwick will be the second seed.