ROCHESTER, NY – Senior attack Chad Levick (Newmarket, Ontario/Huron Heights Secondary) scored at the 3:24 mark of overtime to give the No. 3 RIT (16-2) men's lacrosse team a thrilling 13-12 win over No. 5 St. Lawrence University (15-2) in the Liberty League Championship from cold and windy Tiger Stadium on Sunday afternoon. It is RIT's sixth straight Liberty League title, as they earn the automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Tournament.

Levick scored the game winner off an assist from classmate Ryan Lee (Sharon, Ontario/The Hill Academy). Lee took a feed from Brendan MacDonald (Georgetown, Ontario/Trinity-Pawling) behind the net and spotted Levick cutting towards the goal. Lee fed Levick, who was all alone in front, burying his shot into the bottom corner to send the Tigers to the NCAA Tournament.

"I am very excited for the guys," said RIT head coach Jake Coon. "It was a gutsy performance by our guys to come back against a very talented and scrappy St. Lawrence team."

Shots were 47-37 in favor of St. Lawrence, who won the ground ball battle 40-38. The Tigers won just 9-of-28 face-offs and cleared the ball 14-of-18 times.

Lee, RIT's all-time leading scorer, led the Tigers with five points on three goals and two assists. Levick finished with three goals, while Aidan Milburn (Vancouver, British Columbia/Sentinel Secondary) tallied a pair of goals. Kyle Killen (Peterborough, ON/Crestwood Secondary ) had a goal and two assists, while Cam Isaac (Webster, NY/Webster Thomas) tallied a goal and added an assist. Ben Tackett (Butler, PA/The Kiski School) and Alex Maruna (Medina, OH/St. Ignatius) each caused two turnovers, while Maruna grabbed four ground balls.

Nick Nesbitt (Burlington, Ontario/Salisbuury School) was named the Liberty League Tournament Most Outstanding Player after making a career-high 18 saves in today's win, including 11 in the first half. He also stopped 14 shots in three quarters of play in Friday's semifinal win over Clarkson. Overall, Nesbitt stopped 32 of 50 shots (.640 save percentage) in the tournament.

Jamie DeNicola led St. Lawrence with five points on four goals and an assist. Jon Fairbanks finished with three goals, while Conor Healey and Jamie Kuppel each had a goal and an assist. Freshman Alex Terry took the loss in net, making 11 saves.

St. Lawrence opened the game strong, scoring the first four goals of the game. DeNicola, who scored twice in the quarter, tallied at the 8:40 mark of the quarter to give the Saints an early four-goal cushion.

Lee tallied a man-up goal off an assist from Killen with 7:39 to play to cut the Saints lead to 4-1. After a Fairbanks goal gave the Saints a 5-1 lead, MacDonald tallied with 1:32 to play to make it 5-2 St. Lawrence.

RIT kept the momentum going in the second quarter, scoring three goals, while holding St. Lawrence off the score sheet. Levick, Lee and Killen each scored for RIT in the quarter. Killen's goal with eight seconds to play tied the score at 5-5 heading into halftime.

DeNicola opened the scoring in the third quarter, giving the Saints a 6-5 lead on his goal off an assist from Healey two minutes into the half.

The Tigers responded with five consecutive goals in the third quarter. Isaac, Levick, Milburn (twice), JD Hall (Centennial, CO/Arapahoe) each scored for RIT in the third. Milburn's goal with 4:56 to play made it a 10-6 lead for RIT. Fairbanks scored 44 seconds later to cut the RIT lead to 10-7. That would be the score after 45 minutes of play.

Andrew Jarrett, Alex Dietsch and Jamie Kuppel each scored for St. Lawrence to open the fourth quarter. Kuppel's goal tied the game at 10-10 with 12:35 to play in regulation.

The Tigers would finally get possession and Braden Wallace (Oakville, Ontario/Abbey Park) took a feed from Lee and gave RIT an 11-10 lead on his goal with 8:37 to play. Lee scored off a feed from Ben Tackett (Butler, PA/The Kiski School) with 6:07 to play to give the Tigers a 12-10 lead. The goal was Lee's 50th of the season.

The Saints would not go away. Jordan Dow scored with 5:12 to play to cut the lead to 12-11. Nesbitt would make a huge save with just under a minute left to preserve the lead. RIT had the ball in St. Lawrence territory with under 20 seconds left, looking to put the game away, but turned the ball over. The Saints cleared the ball and got a goal from DeNicola with 3.7 seconds to play in the game, sending the game into overtime.

In the overtime, RIT was able to win the opening face-off and gain possession. After the timeout, Lee found a cutting Levick who buried the shot for the game-winner 36 seconds into the extra session for his third of the day and 47th of the season.
 
The Tigers have now won 11 straight games, scoring 214 goals over that stretch. RIT advanced to the Liberty League Championship after rolling to a 20-10 win over No. 4 seed Clarkson on Friday in one semifinal. St. Lawrence knocked No. 3 seed Vassar, 11-7 in the other semifinal. The Tigers handed St. Lawrence their only two losses of the season, 13-12 today, and 19-12 on April 1. RIT leads the all-time series between the two schools, 24-14.

RIT has won eight straight league championships, the first two as a member of the Empire 8 in 2010 and 2011 and six in a row since joining the Liberty League in 2012. RIT will be making its eighth straight trip to the NCAA Tournament and 19th in program history.

The Tigers will await their opponent for the 2017 NCAA Tournament, which begins Wednesday, May 10. The 2017 NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse selection show is scheduled to take place tonight at 9 p.m. Fans can view the selection show online.