OWINGS MILLS, MD -- The No. 3 RIT (1-0) men's lacrosse team began 2016 in style, defeating No. 7 Stevenson University (1-1) 18-9 on Saturday evening at Mustang Stadium. Junior Ryan Lee (Sharon, Ontario/The Hill Academy) tallied a career-high eight goals to lead a potent RIT attack. The Tigers have now won 41 straight regular season games.

Lee finished with eight goals, while Kyle Sterzin (Fairport, NY/Fairport) and Chad Levick (Newmarket, Ontario/The Hill Academy) each had five points. Sterzin had three goals and two assists, while Levick scored twice and had three assists. Jay Vakiener (Fairport, NY/Fairport) had three assists, while freshman Cam Isaac (Webster, NY/Webster Thomas) his first two collegiate goals. JD Hall (Centennial, CO/Arapahoe), Beau Riley (Homer, NY/Homer) and Alec Sulesky (Medina, OH/Medina) each had goals, while Matt Hossack (Port Perry, Ontario/Port Perry) and Josh Harris (St. Catharines, Ontario/Sir Winston Churchill) each had an assist.

Hossack won 18-of-25 face-offs, and tied his career-high with 15 ground balls. Harris added five ground balls, while Patrick Hannigan (Hanover, MA/Hanover) had four ground balls and caused two turnovers. Senior Jarryd Lee (Melbourne, Australia/St. Leonards) was excellent in net for the Tigers, picking up his first win of the season, and making 12 saves.

Matt Tompkins and Stephen Banick each scored a pair of goals for the Mustangs who have now lost three straight to the Tigers. Kyle D'Onofrio had a goal and two assists, while Wade Korvin had a goal and an assist. Connor Skeen took the loss in net for Stevenson, making nine saves.

RIT came out red hot in the first quarter, leading 9-1 after 15 minutes of play. Lee gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead on his first of three goals in the quarter. This came off an assist from Sterzin at 13:44. Levick tallied a pair of unassisted goals at 13:01 and 10:15 giving RIT a 3-0 lead.

Isaac scored his first collegiate goal at 9:34 of the first quarter, and Sterzin made it 5-0 Tigers on his first of the evening off an assist from Braden Wallace (Oakville, Ontario/Abbey Park). Bannick broke the RIT run with his first goal at 5:51 of the quarter off a feed from D'Onofrio. 

The Tigers responded with four straight goals to close out the first quarter, taking a 9-1 lead on Lee's goal with three seconds to play. Riley and Sulesky also tallied to give the Tigers a commanding first quarter lead.

Korvin opened the second quarter scoring on his man-up goal at 11:29. Lee answered with a pair of back-to-back goals, giving RIT an 11-2 lead. After a pair of Mustangs goals cut the lead to 11-4, Sterzin and Hall each tallied to increase the RIT lead to 13-4.

Stevenson answered right back with back-to-back goals to end the half, pulling to withing 13-6 on Tompkins' goal from Korvin with one minute to play in the half. Bannick made it 13-5 on his goal from D'Onofrio at 1:46.

RIT's offense went quiet in the third quarter, tallying just once. Lee opened the second-half scoring with his sixth of the game at 12:08 of the third. Stevenson had its chance to get back into the game, but RIT's defense held the Mustangs to just two goals in the quarter. Bryce Spruill made it 14-7 at the 11 minute mark, and D'Onofrio scored with nine seconds to play in the quarter making it 14-8.

The Tigers woke up in the fourth quarter, taking a 15-8 lead on Lee's seventh of the game off an assist from Vakiener. Vakiener fed Lee who was coming around the cage. Lee dove to get a better angle and increased the Tigers lead to seven goals.

Sterzin scored an unassisted goal at 10:36 making it 16-8, and Lee tallied his eighth on the man-up after Stevenson took a two-minute penalty. After a Tompkins goal made it 17-9, Isaac added an insurance goal with 47 seconds to play making it an 18-9 final.

RIT will face Montclair State in its home opener on Saturday, March 5 at 1 p.m. on RIT's Turf Field