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ROCHESTER, NY – Mark Frisicano (Rochester, NY/Greece Olympia) (Rochester, NY/Greece Olympia) scored two goals to lead the RIT men’s to its second consecutive Empire 8 win, 4-2 over Alfred University on Saturday afternoon at RIT Field.

 

With the win, RIT improved to 3-5-1 overall and 2-0-0 in the Empire 8.  Alfred fell to 3-5-2 overall and 1-2-0 in conference play.

 

Frisicano opened the scoring for RIT in the ninth minute, as he took a pass from Chris Sappo (Essex Junction, VT/Essex) (Essex, VT/Essex Junction) inside the penalty area and whistled a shot into the wide open net for his team-leading third goal of the season.

 

Alfred’s Bobby Linaberry tied the game a little more than three minutes later, as he corralled a loose ball just outside the box, danced around Tiger goaltender Alan Smith (Lancaster, PA/Penn Manor) (Lancaster, PA/Penn Manor) and bent a shot in from a bad angle for his fifth goal of the season. 

 

RIT captain Geoff Schmidt (Wooster, OH/Wooster) (Wooster, OH/Wooster) had two glorious chances in the final 20 minutes of the half.  He headed a ball that Alfred goalkeeper Brian Middleton made a diving stop on.  Minutes later, Schmidt drilled a shot from just outside the box that just went wide past a diving Middleton.

 

RIT out-shot the Pioneers 9-8 over a very physical opening 45 minutes of play.

 

The Tigers took control with three quick second half goals.

 

Frisciano tallied his second of the day and fourth of the year in the 47^th minute, as he blew by two defenders and ripped a shot past Middleton to give RIT a 2-1 lead.

 

Schmidt took a blast from about 25-yards out on a free kick that ricocheted off an Alfred defender and into the net in the 51^st minute to make it 3-1.  The goal was the first of the season for Schmidt.

 

In the 61^st minute, freshman Jeff Diaz (Brentwood, NY/Brentwood) (Brentwood, NY/Brentwood) tallied his first collegiate goal to give RIT a commanding 4-1 lead.  Diaz took a crossing feed from Chuck Marion (Syracuse, NY/Westhill) (Syracuse, NY/Westhill) and while in stride, blasted a ball just under the left crossbar.

 

Gavin Beem cut the RIT lead to 4-2 with just over 17 minutes left, as he ripped a free-kick from 25-yards out just inside the right post and past a diving Smith.

 

Smith made six saves to pick up his third win of the season for RIT.  RIT out-shot Alfred 18-11.

 

RIT is back in action on Tuesday, as they host University of Rochester at the RIT Field at  4 p.m.