ROCHESTER, NY– The RIT women's lacrosse team (2-2) never trailed and used stout defense in a 6-5 win over Nazareth (2-2) on a frigid Wednesday afternoon at Nazareth's Turf Field. Sage Sarkis (Honeoye Falls, NY/Honeoye Falls-Lima) and Nicole Bingo (Webster, NY/Webster Schroeder) gave RIT a quick 2-0 lead with over 22 minutes to go in the first half, scoring goals within 31 seconds of each other, as RIT never looked back.

Corrina Mandell (Corning, NY/Corning East) and Ashleigh Caruso (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) also added goals for RIT. Sarkis and Caruso had two scores apiece in the win.
 
RIT goaltender Caitlin Conway (Landisville, PA/Hempfield) made seven saves for he Tigers, coming up with a huge save in the closing seconds of the game to preserve the win.  
 
For Nazareth, Brianna Mancini, Leah Marvin, Amy Mcintosh and Brooke Sullivan all netted goals while Golden Flyer goalkeeper Tara Prosak made eight saves.
 
The Golden Flyers outshot RIT 19-18 and had a 7-6 advantage on draw controls while the Tigers held a 15-12 edge in ground balls.
 
It was a defensive battle through the first seven minutes of play as a series of saves and steals by both teams kept the scoreboard blank. Eventually it was RIT who broke through as Sarkis scored her team leading 11th goal of the season from in close.
 
About 30 seconds later Sarkis would assist on a goal by Bingo who crashed toward the net and gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead early.
 
Nazareth would hang tough however, and with 17:23 remaining in the first, Mancini would get the Golden Flyers on the board to cut the RIT lead to just one.
 
Mandell and Caruso each added first half goals of their own as the Tigers led 4-2 at the break.
 
The second half got started much like the first, as neither team could seem to get a shot into the net. With 15:30 to go in the game, it was Nazareth who would score the first goal of the half to cut the RIT lead to 4-3.
 
Later in the second half, Sarkis and Caruso would both add their second goals of the game, which at the time made it 6-3 RIT. Nazareth would battle back though late in the half to make things interesting before Conway and the Tiger defense slammed the door on a comeback.
 
RIT will now head down to West Palm Beach, Fla. next week over the spring semester break where they will take on Middlebury on March 25 and Potsdam two days later on March 27.