Men's Lacrosse Advances to ECAC Championship Game With Win Over Potsdam; Will Play St. John Fisher

Steve Jaynes - SID

| 5/12/2007 2:34:29 PM

Click here for Hartwick vs. St. John Fisher box score

ROCHESTER, NY -- The RIT men's lacrosse team advanced to the ECAC Upstats Lacrosse Championship title game with a 14-7 win over SUNY Potsdam. The top-seeded Tigers got four goals from freshman Chris Ferry (Webster, NY/Webster Schroeder) (Webster, NY/Webster Schroeder) and a goal and four assists from senior Eric Pritchard (Webster, NY/Webster Schroeder) (Webster, NY/Webster Schroeder). RIT will face St. John Fisher in tomorrow's title game at 12 pm.

Wes Adam (Lafayette, NY/Lafayette) (Lafayette, NY) and Dave DeMuth (Jordan, NY/Jordan Elbridge) (Jordan, NY/Jordan-Elbridge) gave RIT a 2-0 lead early in the first quarter. Adam gave RIT a 1-0 lead with an unassisted goal early in the game. DeMuth scored on an assist from Pritchard to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead.

After a Potsdam goal made it 2-1 Daniel Rago (Geneva, NY/Geneva) (Geneva, NY) and Chris Ferry (Webster, NY/Webster Schroeder) (Webster, NY/Webster Schroeder) each tallied a goal to give RIT a 4-1 lead.

DeMuth, Pritchard and Ferry had goals in the second quarter to lengthen RIT's lead to 7-2 at the half. The Tigers defense was strong, holding the Bears to two goals and 11 shots in the first half.

RIT put up another seven goals in the second half, including five in the fourth quarter. Ferry, DeMuth, George During (Skaneateles, NY/Skaneateles) (Skaneateles, NY) and Stephen Papa (Niskayuna, NY/Niskayuna) (Niskayuna, NY) all had goals in the fourth to break the game open.

RIT's defense hald the Bears to four second-half goals and 12 shots. John Foley (Arthur, ON/Our Lady of Lourdes) (Arthur, ON/Our Lady of Lourdes) picked up his 13th win of the season and 48th of his career, making eight saves. Brad Conlon (Ottawa, ON/Bridgton Academy) (Ottawa, ON/Bridgton Academy) played the final 11:33 making a save and allowing a goal.

Ferry, in his first start of the season, scored a career-high four goals and had four ground balls. Pritchard finished with five points and Stephen Papa (Niskayuna, NY/Niskayuna) had three goals. Dave DeMuth (Jordan, NY/Jordan Elbridge) scored four goals and Wes Adam (Lafayette, NY/Lafayette) had a goal and an assist.

Jacob Brunner (Lafayette, NY/Lafayette) (Lafayette, NY) won 11-of-21 face-offs and grabbed seven ground balls. Phil Davenport (New Market, MD/Linganore) (New Market, MD/Linganore) had a goal and six ground balls.

St. John Fisher advanced to the championship game with a 12-6 victory over Hartwick in the second semifinal. Mark Hargather scored four goals and added an assist for the Cardinals, while Dave Malone scored three times and dished out three assists. St. John Fisher went on a 9-0 run spanning nearly two full quarters to take control.

RIT defeated St. John Fisher 10-7 at RIT on April 7.