POTSDAM, NY – The No. 5 RIT men's lacrosse team (5-2, 1-1 Liberty League) suffered its second straight loss, falling to Clarkson University (6-1, 1-0 Liberty League), 9-6 on Saturday afternoon from cold and windy Hantz Turf Field. The loss snapped RIT's 39-game winning streak against Liberty League foes dating back to 2012.
 
The Tigers struggled to get into an offensive rhythm, scoring its fewest goals in a game in eight years. RIT led 2-0 after the opening quarter, but Clarkson turned the game around by scoring six second quarter goals to lead 6-4 at the half. The two teams traded goals in the third quarter before Clarkson scored twice to lead 9-5 midway through the fourth. RIT would try to mount a rally, but Clarkson goaltender Nick Strandholm and his defensive unit were stout all afternoon.
 
RIT out-shot Clarkson, 50-32 and won the ground ball battle, 26-21. The Tigers won 10-of-19 face-offs and cleared the ball 17 times on 18 attempts. The major difference was Clarkson going 3-for-7 with the extra man, while RIT had just one man-up chance all afternoon.
 
Braden Wallace (Oakville, Ontario/Abbey Park) scored a pair of goals to lead the Tigers offensively, while Kyle Killen (Peterborough, ON/Crestwood Secondary High School) had a goal and an assist. Chad Levick (Newmarket, Ontario/Huron Heights Secondary), Eli Salama (Coquitlam, British Columbia/Dr. Charles Best), and Patrick Hannigan (Hanover, MA/Hanover) also scored. In net, Nick Nesbitt (Burlington, Ontario/Salisbuury School) made 11 saves.
 
Hannigan was outstanding all afternoon for the Tigers, leading the squad with seven ground balls and five caused turnovers. Ben Tackett (Butler, PA/The Kiski School) corralled four ground balls, while Jay Vakiener (Fairport, NY/Fairport) led RIT with nine shots, including five on net. Nate Farrell (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) won 7-of-11 face-offs.
 
Strandholm was tremendous in net for the Golden Knights, stopping 21 shots, including four tremendous saves from point-blank range on a RIT man-up chance in the third quarter. He made 16 saves on 18 shots on goal in the second half, keeping the high powered RIT offense off the scoreboard.
 
Ryan St. Croix led the Golden Knights with three goals, while Conor Bartlett added two goals and two assists. Ryan DaRin also scored twice, while Kyle Brown and Shane Kilday added one apiece.
 
Levick and Killen gave RIT a quick 2-0 lead just past the midway point of the first quarter. Despite RIT leading 2-0 after one quarter, they would go scoreless for nearly 12 minutes of play and Clarkson would take advantage, scoring five times in a six-minute span to take a 5-3 lead in the second quarter. Wallace would score his first of two goals on the day to make it a 5-4 game, before Kilday scored a man-up goal to make it 6-4 at the half.
 
RIT would out-shoot Clarkson 19-6 in the third quarter and 30-15 overall in the second half.
 
Wallace would score an unassisted goal 2:22 into the third quarter after heavy pressure by the Tigers to cut the Clarkson lead to 6-5. DaRin would answer moments later to extend the Golden Knights lead to 7-5. RIT would keep coming, but Strandholm would answer would several key saves. He robbed JD Hall (Centennial, CO/Arapahoe) on a point-blank chance in transition and made two great saves on Levick during RIT's lone man-up chance of the game midway through the quarter.
 
Early in the fourth, Ryan Lee (Sharon, Ontario/The Hill Academy) looked to cut the Clarkson lead to 7-6 with a man-down goal in tight, but it was ruled he was in the crease. On the restart, Clarkson went right down the field and St. Croix scored in transition to make it 8-5. Bartlett would make it a 9-5 game with 8:19 left.
 
Hannigan looked to give the Tigers a spark, causing a turnover and scooping up a ground ball at midfield before rumbling in and ripping a shot past Strandholm with 3:47 left to make it a 9-6 game.
 
The Tigers would win the ensuing face-off, but Strandholm denied three RIT chances over the next two minutes. Clarkson would get the ball back and run out the clock over the final 1:15 to earn the victory.
 
It is RIT's first two-game losing streak since 2010. RIT's only other loss in Liberty League play was a 10-7 defeat at Rensselaer on April 7, 2012. The Tigers have won five straight Liberty League Championships. RIT leads the all-time series against Clarkson, 28-15.

RIT returns to action on at 7:30 p.m. night Tuesday with a neutral site contest against No. 16 Middlebury at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse.