TROY, NY -- The No. 3 RIT (4-0, 1-0 Liberty League) opened Liberty League play on Saturday at Rensselaer by holding off the Engineers 12-8 on a sunny day in Troy, N.Y. RIT head coach Jake Coon became the winningest coach in RIT men's lacrosse program history with his 113th victory, passing Guy Van Arsdale who held the previous record of 112.

Now in his seventh season at RIT, Coon has amassed an astounding 113-15 record (.883 Winning percentage), six straight conference titles, and six straight trips to the NCAA Division III Tournament, including the Tigers first-ever appearance in the National Championship game in 2013. He was the 2015 Liberty League Coach of the Year as well as USILA Division III Coach of the Year (2011) and the MCLA Division III Coach of the Year (2013).

Shots were 37-24 in favor of RPI, while the Tigers won the ground ball battle, 37-38. The Tigers won 14-of-23 face-offs and went 19-of-21 on clearing attemtps.

Chad Levick (Newmarket, Ontario/The Hill Academy) led RIT with five points on four goals and an assist. Kyle Sterzin (Fairport, NY/Fairport) added four points on three goals and an assist, while Jay Vakiener (Fairport, NY/Fairport) added a pair of goals. Alex Sulesky had a goal and an assist, and Beau Riley (Homer, NY/Homer) had two assists.

RIT's defense was stout again on Saturday, holding its fourth straight opponent to under 10 goals. Nick Nesbitt (Burlington, Ontario/Salisbuury School) got the win in net, making 14 saves. Josh Harris (St. Catharines, Ontario/Sir Winston Churchill), Matt Hossack (Port Perry, Ontario/Port Perry), Zach Ursu (Mono, ON/The Kiski School) and Alex Sovocool each caused two turnovers for the Tigers who had 10 on the day. Hossack led RIT with seven ground balls, and Patrick Hannigan (Hanover, MA/Hanover) had five. Anthony Contento (Homer, NY/Homer) went 14-of-23 on face-offs with four ground balls.

RIT led 2-1 after the first quarter, and 6-3 at halftime. The Tigers scored four times in the third quarter to lead 10-5, and added two more goals in the fourth to hold on for the 12-8 win.

"Today was a solid Liberty League win," said Coon. "Rensselaer is a stingy, well coached team. We did enough to come away with a win. But, we need to clean things up moving forward."

Vakiener opened the scoring with his second goal of the season at 13:50 of the opening quarter. He scored off a nice drive to goal from up top. After a Matt Hall goal tied the score, Sulesky scored with 3:25 to play in the quarter making it 2-1 Tigers.

Cam Isaac (Webster, NY/Webster Thomas) opened the second-quarter scoring on his third goal of the season, and Levick scored off an assist from Sterzin with 7:17 to play in the second, making it 4-1 RIT.

The Engineers answered with two straight goals of their own. Matthew Gilman made it 4-2 RIT on his man-up goal with 5:06 to play in the half, and Breanainn McNeally made it 4-3 RIT on his man-up goal off a feed from Gillman with 4:05 to play.

Braden Wallace (Oakville, Ontario/Abbey Park) broke the goal run by the Engineers with his goal with 2:28 to play in the half, increasing the RIT lead to 5-3. Levick scored a nifty goal off an assist from Sulesky with 54 seconds to play in the half, giving RIT a 6-3 halftime lead.

Hall cut the Tigers lead to 6-4 with his goal at 10:35 of the third quarter. Each time RPI got close, RIT would respond. This time, consecutive goals from Vakiener and Sterzin increased the Tigers lead to 8-4 at the 8:50 mark of the quarter.

After a McNeally goal made it 8-5 RIT, the Tigers closed out the quarter scoring two goals in 11 seconds to take a 10-5 lead into the fourth. Vakiener scored off a feed from Riley with 1:11 to play in the third, and Sterzin scored 11 seconds later to make it 10-5 RIT.

Sterzin opened the fourth-quarter scoring with his third of the game giving RIT an 11-5 lead. But, the Engineers would not back down. McNeally scored two straight goals, cutting the RIT lead to 11-7 with his man-up goal with 11:59 to play in regulation. 

Levick added an insurance goal off a feed from Riley with 8:15 to play, and the Tigers defense clamped down from that point on, holding the Engineers to just one goal late.

The Tigers, winners of 44 straight regular season games, return to action on Tuesday, March 15 when the they face St. John Fisher College at 4 p.m. in Pittsford, N.Y.