ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT (4-7, 2-3 Liberty League) women's lacrosse team dropped its third straight conference game with a 9-8 loss to Vassar College (4-5, 3-2 Liberty League) on Friday afternoon. Vassar's Storm Sideleau scored with one second remaining in regulation to give the Brewers the win.
 
Shots were 19-18 in favor of RIT, while the Tigers grabbed 29 ground balls to 15 for the Brewers. RIT went 12-of-20 on clearing attempts, and were 3-for-6 on free position attempts.

Freshman Emily Livecchi (Rochester, NY/Our Lady of Mercy) led RIT with three goals. Freshman Sammy Ward (Baldwinsville, NY/C.W. Baker) had a goal and an assist, while Sage Sarkis (Honeoye Falls, NY/Honeoye Falls-Lima) finished with two goals and an assist, and Corrina Mandel tallied a pair of goals. Senior Caitlin Conway (Landisville, PA/Hempfield) took the loss in net for RIT, making seven saves. Mandell led RIT with three draw controls, caused three turnovers and had three ground balls.
  
Isabelle Goldstein and Kim Mulvehill led Vassar with three points apiece. Goldstein had a goal and two assists, while Mulvehill tallied two goals and added an assist.  Brittany Botticelli tallied a pair of goals, and Kate Pula got the win in net for the Brewers making six saves.
 
RIT opened the scoring when Livecchi converted a free position attempt nearly five minutes into the game. It was her team-leading 28th goal of the season. 

Mulvehill answered for Vassar on her goal off an assist from Sidelau at the 22:48 mark, tying the score at 1-1. RIT ran off four straight goals, taking a 5-1 lead on a nice fast-break goal from Mandell off the feed from Sarkis.

The Brewers scored two straight, cutting the RIT lead to 5-3 on Botticello's 14th and 15th goals of the season with 9:30 to play in the first half.
 
Mandell tallied her second goal of the half with 5:58 to play, increasing the RIT lead back to three goals at 6-3.  The Brewers would close out the first half scoring two straight goals, pulling to within 6-5 at halftime. Goldstein and Paige Abramowitz scored for Vassar making it 1-goal game.

The Brewers kept the momentum going into the start of the second half as Vassar scored the first three goals of the half. Julia Trudell opened the half with her 16th goal of the season off an assist from Goldstein. Evie Toland scored her first goal of the season at 22:56 giving the Brewers a 7-6 lead. Mulvehill made it 8-6 with her goal at 12:39 of the second half.
 
RIT generated good scoring chances in the second half, but could only muster two goals. Pula was excellent in net for Vassar in the second half, making five saves in the half. Sammy Ward (Baldwinsville, NY/C.W. Baker) finally broke through when she converted a free position attempt with 4:52 to play in regulation. Livecchi tied the score in dramatic fashion when she scored with 36 seconds to play in regulation off an assist from Ward.

The game looked to be head for overtime, when Sidelau drove the net with time expiring and fired a shot that went in with one second on the clock to give the Brewers the win. With the win, Vassar takes a 3-2 advantage in the all-time series.

RIT returns to action on Saturday, April 11 when the Tigers host Liberty League foe Bard College at 3 p.m. in RIT's Turf Field. RIT will honor seniors Conway and Kirsten Francis (Fulton, NY/G. Ray Bodley) before the game.