Men's Lacrosse | 4/28/2009 8:21:04 PM

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ELMIRA, NY -- The RIT men's lacrosse team defeated Elmira College 14-9 in Empire 8 action at Campus Field on Tuesday afternoon. The Tigers close out the regular season with a 10-6 overall record and finish 5-3 in the Empire 8.

RIT dominated in shots, out-shooting the Soaring Eagles 60-30. The Tigers won the ground ball battle 37-35 and won 16-of-24 face-offs. RIT went 4-for-7 on man-up opportunities and cleared the ball 20-of-26 times.

Iric Bressler (Stafford, VA/North Stafford) (Stafford, VA/North Stafford) led RIT with seven points on three goals and four assists. Billy Walton (Syracuse, NY/Nottingham) (Syracuse, NY/Nottingham) had three goals and Adam Vlassis (Syracuse, NY/East Syracuse-Minoa) (Syracuse, NY/East Syracuse-Minoa) tallied three assists. Tom Riley (West Nyack, NY/Clarkstown South) (West Nyack, NY/Clarkstown South) and Tanner King (Virginia Beach, VA/Corning East) (Virginia Beach, VA/Corning East) each had a pair of goals.

#M.J. Keikebelt# (Caledon, ON/St. Andrews College-Aurora) had eight ground balls. Dan MacRae (Oakville, Ontario/Holy Trinity) (Oakville, ON/Holy Trinity) had five ground balls and caused two turnovers.

Dan Waitroski (Califon, NJ/West Morris Central) got the start and played the first half. He allowed five goals and made four saves. Kevin Rattigan (Chicago, IL/Western Reserve Academy) (Chicago, IL/Western Reserve Academy) played the second half and picked up the win. He made two saves and allowed four goals.

RIT trailed 2-0 until the 8:06 mark of the first quarter when Tanner King (Virginia Beach, VA/Corning East) scored on an assist from Iric Bressler (Stafford, VA/North Stafford). Matt Lesczynski (Honeoye Falls, NY/Honeoye Falls-Lima) (Honeoye Falls, NY/Honeoye Falls-Lima) tied the score at 2-2 at the 9:03 mark of the first.

The Tigers took their first lead at 9:03 of the second quarter on a man-up goal by Billy Walton (Syracuse, NY/Nottingham).

After an Elmira goal tied the score at 3-3, the Tigers took the lead back at 6:14 of the second quarter on Bressler's first goal of the game.

The Soaring Eagles tallied two straight goals to take a 5-4 lead until David Burke (Fairport, NY/Fairport) (Fairport, NY) tallied a man-up goal with 5:43 to play in the second quarter tying the score at 5-5.

RIT came out in the third quarter scoring four goals. Adam Lehmann (Rochester, NY/McQuaid Jesuit) (Rochester, NY/McQuaid) and Tyler Russell (Livonia, NY/Livonia) (Livonia, NY) scored the first two goals of the quarter to give the Tigers a 7-5 lead.

After Elmira scored a goal to pull within a goal at 7-6, Tanner King (Virginia Beach, VA/Corning East) and Tom Riley (West Nyack, NY/Clarkstown South) scored consecutive goals to give the Tigers a 9-6 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

The Soaring Eagles opened the fourth quarter with two straight goals pulling to within a goal at 9-8.

That score remained until the 10:23 mark when RIT exploded for five straight goals. The Tigers scored the goals in a 2:35 span to put the game away.

Bressler and Walton each had two goals in the run and Riley had the other.

Elmira scored a goal with 50 seconds remaining to make the final score 14-9.

The Tigers will now await a possible ECAC Upstate Tournament bid.