| 4/12/2006 8:38:53 PM

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ITHACA, NY -- The RIT men's lacrosse team dropped a tight game to Ithaca College, 11-10 this afternoon on a blustery, cloudy day in Ithaca, New York. The loss drops the seventh ranked Tigers to 10-2 on the season and 3-1 in the Empire 8. Ithaca improves to 7-3 overall and 4-0 in the Empire 8.

RIT came out on fire in the opening quarter, leading 3-0. Eric Pritchard (Webster, NY/Webster) (Webster, NY/Webster) gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead at the 13:22 mark of the quarter on a nice assist from David Thering (Fairport, NY/Fairport) (Fairport, NY/Fairport).

Pritchard returned the favor to Thering with 9:38 to play in the quarter on a man-up situation for RIT. Colin Jesien (Cambridge, MD/Cambridge-S. Dorchester)'s (Cambridge, MD/Cambridge-S. Dorchester) goal with 2:18 to play gave the Tigers a 3-0 lead.

RIT dominated play in the opening quarter, out shooting the Bombers 16-5, but squandered some golden opportunities to extend their lead.

It looked as if RIT would roll but Ithaca stormed back in the second quarter, rattling off five straight goals, taking a 5-3 lead into half time. Ithaca out shot RIT 12-7 in the quarter with the bulk of the Bomber's goals coming in transition.

The Tigers got on the board first in the second half on Jesien's second goal of the game. Pritchard fed a cutting Jesien who beat the Ithaca goalie with a nice one-time shot.

The Bombers responded with four straight goals, taking a 9-4 lead. Ithaca was outplaying the Tigers in every aspect at that point of the game.

Late in the third RIT found themselves down two men. Tiger's goalie, John Foley (Guelph, ON/Our Lady of Lourdes) (Guelph, ON/Our Lady of Lourdes), ran the clearing attempt all the way up the middle of the field, crossing midfield on a clear attempt. Nobody on Ithaca picked him up and he drove all the way into the offensive zone. Foley passed it to Andy Ruocco (Corning, NY/Corning East) (Corning, NY/Corning East) who slipped down. He got back to his feet and fed a wide open Foley who scored the rare goal for a goalie. That seemd to fire up the Tigers as they headed into the fourth quarter down only 9-5.

Jesien tallied his third goal of the game early in the fourth, cutting the Bomber's lead to 9-6. Pritchard and Thering hooked up again with 13:57 to play, making it 9-7.

Zach Bednarz (Webster, NY/Webster) (Webster, NY/Webster) scored a man-up goal with 12:39 to play on an assist from Ruocco, makig it 9-8.

Pritchard tied the score at 9-9 with 7:24 to play for his third goal of the game and second of the quarter.

Ithaca scored two straight goals at 7:10 and 5:50, taking an 11-9 lead.

Pritchard scored is third goal of the quarter on an assist from Jesien with 4:44 to play, cutting the Bomber's lead back down to one goal at 11-10.

The Tigers had a series of chances late in the contest but a combination of stingy defense and mistakes by RIT cost the Tigers a chance to tie the score and send it into overtime.

RIT out shot Ithaca 47-34, while the Bomber's won the ground ball battle, 39-27. RIT went 2-for-5 on man-up and won 12-of-24 face offs.

Pritchard led RIT with four goals and two assists. Colin Jesien (Cambridge, MD/Cambridge-S. Dorchester) added three goals and an assist and David Thering (Fairport, NY/Fairport) had a goal and two assists.

John Foley (Guelph, ON/Our Lady of Lourdes) played an ecellent game, making 13 saves, allowing 11 goals and scoring a goalofhis own.

RIT will face arch rival and fifth ranked Nazareth College on Saturday, April 15 at 1 pm at Nazareth College.