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 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 and
Chad Levick each had five points. Sterzin had three goals and two assists, while Levick scored twice and had three assists.
Jay Vakiener had three assists, while freshman
Cam Isaac his first two collegiate goals.
JD Hall,
Beau Riley and
Alec Sulesky each had goals, while
Matt Hossack and
Josh Harris 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 had four ground balls and caused two turnovers. Senior
Jarryd Lee 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. Bannick broke the RIT run with his first goal at 5:51 of the quarter off a feed from D'Onofrio.Â
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 within 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
