Men's Lacrosse | 4/19/2009 4:46:33 PM

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WILLIMANTIC, CT -- The RIT men's lacrosse team was defeated by Eastern Connecticut State University, 13-12 in non-conference action on Sunday afternoon. The loss snaps a two-game winning streak for the Tigers who fall to 8-4 overall on the season.

RIT out shot Eastern Connecticut 53-30, but lost the ground ball battle 54-43. The Tigers won 16-of-29 face-offs and went 26-of-33 on clearing opportunities. RIT was 1-for-5 on the man advantage.

#A.J. Tingle# (Cary, NC/Green Hope) led RIT with three goals. David Burke (Fairport, NY/Fairport) (Fairport, NY) and Adam Lehmann (Rochester, NY/McQuaid Jesuit) (Rochester, NY/McQuaid) each had a pair of goals, while #Adam Vlassis (Syracuse, NY/East Syracuse-Minoa)# (Syracuse, NY/East Syracuse-Minoa) and #Iric Bressler (Stafford, VA/North Stafford)# (Stafford, VA/North Stafford) each had a goal and an assist.

Junior defenseman, #Dan MacRae (Oakville, Ontario/Holy Trinity)# (Oakville, ON/Holy Trinity) had a game-high nine ground balls. Sophomore long-stick midfielder #M.J. Kiekebelt# (Caledon, ON/St. Andrews College-Aurora) grabbed six ground balls.

Robert Tonnessen (Ridgefield, CT/Ridgefield) (Ridgefield, CT) got the start in net. He played the first 30 minutes allowing eight goals and making five saves. #Kevin Rattigan (Chicago, IL/Western Reserve Academy)# (Chicago, IL/Western Reserve Academy) played the second half allowing five goals and making six saves.

RIT took a 1-0 lead with 10:44 remaining in the first quarter when Adam Lehmann (Rochester, NY/McQuaid Jesuit) scored an unassisted goal.

A.J. Tingle (Cary, NC/Green Hope) made it 2-0 with 6:16 to play in the opening quarter with a man-down goal. It was the first of his three goals on the afternoon.

The Warriors rattled off three straight goals, taking a 3-2 lead with 1:36 remaining in the quarter on a goal by Ben Raccio.

Lehmann struck for the second time in the first quarter with 1:26 remaining, tying the score at 3-3.

D.J. Simmons rounded out the scoring in the opening quarter, giving Eastern Connecticut a 4-3 lead after one quarter of play.

The Warriors struck four times in the second quarter. Eastern Connecticut sandwiched two pairs of goals in between an Iric Bressler (Stafford, VA/North Stafford) goal to lead 8-4 at the half.

After RIT's Adam Vlassis (Syracuse, NY/East Syracuse-Minoa) opened the scoring in the third quarter, cutting the Warriors lead to 8-5, Eastern Connecticut scored four straight goals, opening their lead up to 12-5.

Tyler Russell (Livonia, NY/Livonia) (Livonia, NY) scored a man-up goal on an assist from Sean Gillies (Oakville, Ontario/Albany Academy) (Oakville, ON/Albany Academy) with 31 seconds remaining in the third quarter to cut the Warriors lead down to 12-6 heading into the fourth quarter.

David Burke (Fairport, NY/Fairport) scored the first goal of the fourth quarter, cutting Eastern Connecticut's lead to 12-7.

Matthew Savage's goal with 10:30 to play was the final goal scored by the Warriors, increasing their lead to 13-7.

The Warriors held off a five-goal run by the Tigers down the stretch for the win. A.J. Tingle (Cary, NC/Green Hope) scored twice in that run, the second one coming with 51 seconds remaining to cut the lead to 13-12. Burke, Gillies and Chris Cherami (Olwick, NJ/Seton Hall Prep) (Olwick, NJ/Seton Hall Prep) also had goals in that run, but it was too little too late for RIT.

RIT returns to Empire 8 action on Wednesday, April 22 when they travel to Utica College to face the Pioneers. Game time is at 4 pm in Utica, New York.