ROCHESTER, NY – In a battle of two top-10 teams, the No. 8 RIT (7-2, 2-1 Liberty League) men's lacrosse team defeated previously unbeaten No. 4 St. Lawrence University (7-1, 1-1 Liberty League) 19-12 in a critical Liberty League showdown on Saturday afternoon from RIT's Turf Field.

Senior attack Ryan Lee (Sharon, Ontario/The Hill Academy) tallied eight points on four goals and four assists to lead the way offensively for the Tigers. Lee, who broke RIT's all-time career scoring record on Tuesday in a win over Middlebury, became the first player in program history to surpass the 300 career point plateau this afternoon. He now has 305 points on 195 goals and 110 assists. In addition, Lee has 17 points over his last two games.

RIT's Chad Levick (Newmarket, Ontario/Huron Heights Secondary) finished with four goals, while Brendan MacDonald (Georgetown, ON/Trinity-Pawling) tallied three goals and added an assist. JD Hall (Centennial, CO/Arapahoe) had four points on two goals and two assists, and Aidan Milburn (Vancouver, British Columbia/Sentinel Secondary) scored two goals. Braden Wallace (Oakville, Ontario/Abbey Park) scored a goal and added an assist, and Kyle Killen (Peterborough, ON/Crestwood Secondary High School) had a goal and two assists.

Shots were 45-42 in favor of RIT. The Tigers held a narrow 35-34 ground ball advantage, and cleared the ball 27-of-29 times. RIT went 2-for-8 on man-up, and won just 12-of-32 face-offs.

Nick Nesbitt (Burlington, Ontario/Salisbuury School) got the win in net for RIT, making 15 saves on 24 shots. Jimmy Spillane (River Vale, NJ/Pascack Valley), Patrick Hannigan (Hanover, MA/Hanover), Chandler Allen (Ilderon, ON/Medway), Nesbitt, Ben Tackett (Butler, PA/The Kiski School) and Steven Ricci (Rochester, NY/Pittsford Sutherland) each had four ground balls. Eli Salama (Coquitlam, British Columbia/Dr. Charles Best) caused five turnovers, while Ricci and Spillane won six face-offs apiece.

Jamie DeNicola led St. Lawrence with three goals. Conor Healey tallied five points on two goals and three assists. Andrew Jarrett and Jon Fairbanks each scored a pair of goals for the Saints, who suffered their first loss of the season. Alex Terry took the loss in net for St. Lawrence, making 12 saves.

Alec Dietsch would open the scoring for the Saints just 17 seconds into the contest. RIT would answer immediately off the ensuing face-off, as Tackett would take a feed from Spillane to fire in his third goal of the season 11 seconds later. Brett McCormack would give the Saints their final lead of the day just 1:55 into the game, making the score 2-1.

Lee tied the score at the 8:15 mark of the quarter on his first goal of the game off an assist from Jay Vakiener (Fairport, NY/Fairport). That started a run of four straight goals for the Tigers. Wallace gave RIT its first lead of the game on his unassisted goal with 8:15 to play in the quarter. Hall and Levick added goals in the run to give RIT a 5-2 lead late in the quarter. Jarrett broke the Tigers scoring run with his goal with 54 seconds to play in the quarter to make it 5-3 RIT.

Both teams scored three times in the second quarter. Killen, Lee and Levick each scored for RIT. Healey scored twice and DeNicola also tallied scored for the Saints, as RIT would take an 8-6 lead into the break.

RIT would put the game away by out-scoring St. Lawrence 11-6 in the second half.

Lee and Hall opened the second-half scoring with two straight goals for RIT. Lee's goal off an assist from Spillane gave the Tigers a 10-6 lead. Jon Fairbanks scored the first of his two third quarter goals with 11:20 to play to cut the lead to 10-7. The teams would trade goals two more times in the quarter, as MacDonald and Levick would add goals for RIT, while Fairbanks and DeNicola scored late in the quarter to cut the RIT lead to 12-9.

RIT would put the game away by scoring seven times in the fourth quarter, including five straight goals to make it a 17-9 game. Milburn and MacDonald scored two goals apiece in the Tigers run. After a St. Lawrence goal cut the lead to 17-10, Levick answered right back for RIT, tallying his fourth of the game with 5:20 to play to make it 18-10 Tigers. Shawn Nally (Rochester, NY/McQuaid) tallied a late goal for RIT.

With the win, RIT improves to 23-14 all-time against St. Lawrence, including seven in a row since joining the Liberty League in 2012.

After scoring just 15 goals over a two-game losing streak, the Tigers have scored 47 times over their last two contests, wins over ranked opponents.

RIT returns to action on Wednesday, April 5 when the Tigers face No. 9 SUNY Cortland at 7 p.m. in Cortland, N.Y. It will mark RIT's second straight contest against an undefeated team.