ROCHESTER, NY -- The No. 1 RIT (17-0) men's lacrosse team advanced to its fourth straight Liberty League title game with a 17-4 win over No. 4 Clarkson University (7-8) in semifinal action from Tiger Stadium on Friday afternoon. RIT will face Union College in the Liberty League championship on Sunday, May 3 at 12 p.m.

"It was not one of our cleanest games today," said RIT head coach Jake Coon. "I was proud how our guys persevered and kept playing. (Pat) Johnston made some big saves early that helped our defense settle into the game."
 
Shots were 46-20 in favor of RIT. RIT held a 40-18 ground ball edge, and cleared the ball 17-of-20 times. Sophomore Ryan Lee (Sharon, Ontario/The Hill Academy) led RIT with six points on five goals and an assist. Chad Levick (Newmarket, Ontario/The Hill Academy) added five points on three goals and two assists, while Allister Warren (Toronto, Ontario/Malvern Collegiate Institute) had a goal and five assists.

Ryan St. Croix led Clarkson with a goal and an assist. Sean Groves, Corey Herrington and Jack Dowst each tallied a goal and Dylan Hrebenach had an assist. Nick Strandholm got the loss in net, making 15 saves.

RIT led 4-1 after the first quarter, 7-2 at halftime, 11-3 after three quarters of play and outscored the Golden Knights 6-1 in the fourth quarter for the 17-4 final. The Tigers have scored 12 or more goals in all 17 games this season.

Lee opened the scoring with his 45th goal of the season off an assist from Brad Gillies (Oakville, Ontario/St. Thomas Aquinas) 47 seconds into the contest. St. Croix answered for Clarks with his unassisted goal at the 12:16 mark of the first quarter, tying the score at 1-1.

RIT closed out the quarter with three straight goals, taking a 4-1 lead on Warren's 35th goal of the season with 3:23 to play in the quarter. Aquin and Kyle Sterzin (Fairport, NY/Fairport) also tallied for the Tigers.

The Tigers kept the momentum going into the second quarter, tallying the first three goals.  Jarret Schmauder (Franklin, MA/Franklin) opened the scoring with his goal off an assist from Dan LoBosco (South Salem, NY/John Jay). Aquin made it 6-1 with his second of the game at 11:56, and Lee scored his second of the game at the 8:55 mark of the quarter.

Jack Dowst broke up the run for Clarkson, tallying his fifth goal of the season with 2:08 to play, cutting the RIT lead to 7-2 at halftime. RIT out shot the Golden Knights 22-12 in the first half with Lee and Aquin each tallying a pair of goals.

Groves opened the second half scoring with his goal of an assist from St. Croix making it 7-3 RIT early in the third quarter. RIT answered with four straight goals, taking an 11-3 lead on Lee's 48th of the season with 29 seconds to play in the quarter. JD Hall (Centennial, CO/Arapahoe), Levick and Lee all scored in the run for the Tigers. Lee had two of the four goals.

Lee opened the fourth quarter scoring with his 49th goal of the season and fifth of the game just 51 seconds into the quarter. Levick, Mikey Gulasey (Medina, OH/Western Reserve Academy), Josh Kemp (Couquitlam, British Columbia/Centennial) and Dave Shuster (Columbus, OH/St. Charles Prep) also scored in the fourth quarter for the Tigers.

Senior Pat Johnston (Norwell, MA/Norwell) picked up his 17th win of the season and 52nd in his career in net for the Tigers, making eight saves. He is now 52-4 in his career with a .928 winning percentage. Freshman Jake Quay (Latham, NY/Shaker) won 10-of-13 face-offs and had a ground ball. Pat Hannigan led RIT with five ground balls and had four caused turnovers. Matt Hossack (Port Perry, Ontario/Port Perry) and Gillies each picked up four ground balls.

RIT improves to 26-14 all time versus Clarkson. They have scored at least 15 goals in a game 12 straight times and surpassed the 300-goal barrier for the season. The Tigers lead all of Division I in scoring, averaging 18 goals per game.

The Tigers will look to win its fourth straight Liberty League title and sixth conference crown in a row on Sunday. It is the second straight season RIT and Union will vie for the league title and an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. RIT defeated Union 22-7 on April 15 in Schenectady.