ITHACA, NY -- The No. 1 RIT (2-0) men's lacrosse team braved the cold weather and defeated No. 13 Ithaca College (1-1) 12-9 in non-league action from Higgins Stadium on the campus of Ithaca College on Saturday. The Tigers have won 26 straight regular season games dating back to 2013, and have beaten Ithaca eight straight times.

Ithaca held a 45-40 shot advantage, while RIT won the ground ball battle, 35-32. Both teams won 12-of-24 face-offs, and RIT went 18-of-21 on clearing attempts. The Tigers did not have a man-up chance, and held the Bombers to 2-for-4 with the man advantage.

Allister Warren (Toronto, Ontario/Malvern Collegiate Institute) led RIT with six points on four goals and two assists. Ryan Lee (Sharon, Ontario/The Hill Academy) had two goals and two assists, while Kyle Aquin (Hamilton, Ontario/St. Jean De Brebeuf) tallied a pair of goals. Eddie Kiesa (Syracuse, NY/Jamesville-Dewitt), Chad Levick (Newmarket, Ontario/The Hill Academy), Dan LoBosco (South Salem, NY/John Jay), and Braden Wallace (Oakville, Ontario/Abbey Park) each tallied a goal for the Tigers. Pat Johnston (Norwell, MA/Norwell) picked up the win in net for RIT, making 18 saves. Steven Ricci (Rochester, NY/Pittsford Sutherland) went 12-of-24 on face-offs with six ground balls.

"Today was a good, hard-nosed win for us," said RIT head coach Jake Coon. "Ithaca is a tough, hard-nosed, well coached team and we had to earn the win today."

Jack Shumway led the Bombers with five points on three goals and two assists. John Januszkiewicz scored two goals, while Jordan Brett had a goal and an assist. Scott Sidnam took the loss in net for Ithaca, making 13 saves.

Despite dominating possession in the first quarter, the Tigers mustered just one goal offensively. Aquin got RIT on the scoreboard with his goal just 52 seconds into the game off an assist from Warren. The Tigers fired seven shots in the first quarter, while Ithaca fired eight, including four on net.

Michael Walker tied the score for Ithaca at 1-1 early in the second quarter on his unassisted goal at 13:56. Warren netted his first of the game at 13:29 of the second quarter off an assist from Lee, giving the Tigers a 2-1 lead.

The Bombers answered with two straight goals, taking a 3-2 lead on a Brett goal with 5:49 to play in the half.

RIT closed out the first half tallying four straight goals, leading 6-3 at the break. Warren scored two of the four goals, while Lee and Kiesa each scored once.

"I thought our leadership was excellent today," said Coon. "We got off to a slow start, but our veterans, especially Allister (Warren), stepped up and got us going."

Wallace opened the second-half scoring, on his goal at 8:52 of the third quarter off a feed from Lee, extending the Tigers lead to 7-3. Eli Gobrecht scored with one second to play in the third quarter, cutting the Tigers lead to 7-4 to start the fourth quarter.

After combining for 11 goals in the first three quarters, both teams opened up the offenses in the fourth quarter, combining for 10 goals. Warren opened the fourth-quarter scoring on his fourth tally of the game off a feed from Kiesa, that gave RIT an 8-4 lead.

Consecutive goals from Januszkiewicz and Shumway, cut the RIT lead to 8-6 with 11:12 to play in regulation. Aquin broke the mini-run by the Bombers, tallying his second goal of the game with 8:18 to play off an assist from Warren, extendng the Tigers lead to 9-6.

Januszkiewicz and Shumway tallied consecutive goals seven seconds apart for the Bombers to cut the RIT to 9-8 with 3:26 to play, the closest the Bombers had been since the first half. The Shumway goal came right off a face-off to give the Bombers the momentum.

The Tigers answered with two straight goals, taking an 11-8 lead on Lee's second goal of the game. Chad Levick (Newmarket, Ontario/The Hill Academy) got the run going with 2:01 left. His initial shot was blocked in front of the Ithaca net. Sidnam scooped up the ground ball for Ithaca, but his attempted clearing pass was intercepted by Levick and he turned and scored, breaking the momentum of the Bombers. Lee would take a feed from Matt Hossack (Port Perry, Ontario/Port Perry) nine seconds later to seal the win.

Steve Danylyshyn scored with 57 seconds to play in regulation for the Bombers, but LoBosco put the game away with his first goal of the season nine seconds later, making it a 12-9 final.

RIT returns to action on Wednesday, March 4 when the Tigers travel to face The College at Brockport at 4 p.m. in Brockport, N.Y.