SYRACUSE, NY -- The No. 3 RIT men's lacrosse team (3-0) scored four fourth quarter goals to snap an 8-8 tie en route to a 12-9 win over No. 12 SUNY Cortland (1-2) in non-conference action from The Carrier Dome on the campus of Syracuse University. The Tigers have now won 43 straight regular season games and are riding a five-game winning streak over the Red Dragons.

Ryan Lee (Sharon, Ontario/The Hill Academy) led RIT with three goals, while Kyle Sterzin (Fairport, NY/Fairport), Chad Levick (Newmarket, Ontario/The Hill Academy), Alec Sulesky (Medina, OH/Medina) and Jay Vakiener (Fairport, NY/Fairport) each had a goal and an assist. Braden Wallace (Oakville, Ontario/Abbey Park) chipped in a pair of goals for the Tigers, who fired 37 shots.

The Tigers won the ground ball battle, 36-31 and went a 17-of-19 on clearing attempts. RIT failed to score on its lone man-up opportunity, while Cortland won 17 draws to just seven for the Tigers. In goal, Jarryd Lee (Melbourne, Australia/St. Leonards) picked up his second win of the season, making 14 saves. Matt Hossack (Port Perry, Ontario/Port Perry) and Patrick Hannigan (Hanover, MA/Hanover) led the Tigers with six ground balls apiece, Jakob Krzyston (Bedford, NH/Bishop Guertin) and Alec Sovocool (Homer, NY/Homer) each caused two turnovers.

Nate Beresovoy and Cory Becker led Cortland with two goals apiece. Zach Hopps and TJ deLyra each had a goal and an assist for the Dragons who went 1-for-3 on man-up. Pat Baldwin won 17-of-24 face-offs for Cortland and had 10 ground balls. Joe Scalise took the loss in net despite making 13 saves.

RIT led 4-1 after the first quarter, and 7-4 at halftime. Cortland out scored the Tigers 3-1 in the thid quarter, but the Tigers responded with four goals in the fourth quarter to put the game away.

"I thought it was a scrappy game," said RIT head coach Jake Coon. "Both teams played really hard. We were able to make a couple more plays down the stretch than they did."

With the win, Coon ties former coach Guy VanArsdale for the all-time lead in coaching wins at the university with 112. Coon has an incredible 112-15 record in his six-plus years at RIT.

Dan LoBosco (South Salem, NY/John Jay) gave RIT a quick 1-0 lead when he took the opening face-off and scored just 14 seconds into the game. Lee tallied his first of the game off an assist from Zach Ursu (Mono, ON/The Kiski School) giving RIT a 2-0 lead at 11:38 of the quarter. Sulesky made it 3-0 Tigers on his second goal of the season at 6:17 of the first.

Cortland got on the board at the 3:36 mark of the opening quarter when Beresovoy tallied an unassisted goal, making it 3-1 RIT. Lee added his second of the quarter with 1:56 to play off an assist from Beau Riley (Homer, NY/Homer) making it 4-1 Tigers after one quarter.

Devin Phelps opened the scoring in the second quarter, tallying at the 13:51 mark cutting the RIT lead to 4-2. Consecutive goals from Hossack, JD Hall (Centennial, CO/Arapahoe) and Wallace increased the RIT lead to 7-2 with 7:21 to play in the half. Both Hall and Hossack's goal came on unsettled situtaions in front of the Cortland goal.

The Red Dragons rebounded and scored the final two goals of the half, cutting the RIT lead to 7-4 on a goal from Joey Panariello with 3:49 to play in the half. Cortland took the momentum from the end of the first half into the second half.

Becker opened the third-quarter scoring with an unassisted goal 52 seconds into the quarter, cutting the RIT lead to 7-5. Vakiener tallied his first goal as a Tiger off an assist from Sulesky at the 12:11 mark of the third making it 8-5 RIT.

Cortland would not go quietly, scoring the final two goals of the third quarter and the first goal of the fourth quarter, tying the score at 8-8 on Beresovoy's second of the game 52 seconds into the fourth quarter.

RIT took the lead back on its next possession. Wallace took a feed from Sterzin and buried a shot with 12:17 to play, making it 9-8 Tigers. Levick drove to the net and score with 10:11 to play making it a two-goal lead for RIT, and Sterzin scored off an assist from Levick with 9:09 to play making ti 11-8 Tigers.

Panariello added a late goal for Cortland and Lee put the game away with his third of the game making it a 12-9 final.

"I thought it was a good game," said Coon. "We got good goalie play, strong defense and good play from our offense. Cortland is a great team and we earned that win tonight."

RIT returns to action on Saturday, March 12 when they open up Liberty League play at Rensselaer. Game time from Troy, N.Y. is 1 p.m.