ROCHESTER, NY – The No. 3 RIT men's lacrosse team opened its 2018 season with a 12-7 win over visiting Ohio Wesleyan University from the RIT Turf Field on Saturday afternoon.

The Tigers jumped out to a 5-0 lead after the opening quarter, led 7-2 at the half and 9-3 after three quarters en route to the win.

Aidan Milburn (Vancouver, British Columbia/Sentinel Secondary) led a balanced RIT attack with three goals and an assist, while Beau Riley (Homer, NY/Homer) and Cam Issac had two goals and an assist apiece. Ryan Tandy (Montrose, NY/Hendrick-Hudson) scored two fourth quarter goals, while Eli Salama (Coquitlam, British Columbia/Dr. Charles Best), Kyle Killen and Ryan Barnable had a goal and an assist apiece.

Face-off specialist Nate Farrell was tremendous, winning 16-of-19 draws, while grabbing a game-high 10 ground balls. Alex Maruna had three caused turnovers, while Chandler Allen added two. In goal, Walker Hare made his first collegiate start one to remember, stopping a career-high 16 shots, eight in each half.

"Overall, I liked our effort to earn a solid win over a good, athletic team in Ohio Wesleyan," said RIT head coach Jake Coon. "I thought our defense played well, Walker (Hare) made some timely saves and our offense showed good balance. Certainly, we have some things to clean up but there is much to build on."

Max Tennant led Ohio Wesleyan with five points on three goals and two assists, while Luke Leyden had two goals and an assist, while attempting a game-high 14 shots. Steven Hildebrand and Will Anton also scored for the Battling Bishops. Goalkeeper Ben Rigger made 17 saves in the loss.

Overall, shots were even at 41-41, while RIT held a 39-28 edge in ground balls. RIT turned the ball over 18 times to 17 from Ohio Wesleyan. RIT won 17-of-23 draws on the afternoon. The Tigers were 1-for-4 on the man-up, while Ohio Wesleyan was 1-for-5.

The Tigers came out with authority, out-scoring the Battling Bishops, 5-0 in the opening quarter while holding a 15-4 edge in shots. Riley got RIT rolling just 1:23 into the game off a feed from Salama. Killen gave RIT a 2-0 lead five minutes later off a feed from Shawn Nally (Rochester, NY/McQuaid), while Milburn tallied his first goal of the day just over the halfway mark of the period to make it 3-0. Barnable scored his first collegiate goal from Nally with 1:57 left in the quarter, while Salama took a feed from Zach Ursu (Mono, Ontario/The Kiski School) on the rush and wired a shot in with just eight seconds left in the period to make it 5-0 Tigers.

Hare came up big in the second quarter, stopping six shots, including a couple from the edge of the crease, as Ohio Wesleyan held a 15-5 advantage in shots, with the help of three man-up opportunities and six RIT turnovers. Leyden got the Battling Bishops on the board 1:02 into the second quarter, before Milburn scored consecutive goals to make it 7-1 Tigers.

Ohio Wesleyan would get within five goals twice in the early stages of the fourth quarter before Tandy scored consecutive goals 32 seconds apart to give RIT its largest lead of the game, 12-5, with 3:07 left. Leyden and Tennant would score consecutive goals 43 seconds apart late in regulation for the final margin.
 
Ohio Wesleyan leads the all-time series between the two schools, 4-3. It was the second meeting in the last two years, as the Tigers also came out on top in the season-opener for both schools last season, 12-11 at Ohio Wesleyan.

The Tigers are back in action next Saturday, Feb. 24 versus No. 11 Bates College at 4 p.m. in a neutral site game on the campus of UMass-Amherst.