TROY, NY — The top-ranked RIT (12-0, 4-0 Liberty League) men's lacrosse remained undefeated on the season with an 18-11 win over No. 20 Rensselaer (8-2, 3-1 Liberty League) in Liberty League action Saturday afternoon. The Tigers improve to 4-0 in Liberty League action with the win. 

Shots were 46-40 in favor of RIT. The Tigers held a 60-40 ground ball advantage, while winning 18-of-34 face-offs. RIT was a perfect 19-of-19 on clearing attempts and continued its excellence on the man-up, converting all three of its chances.

Shawn Nally (Rochester, NY/McQuaid) led RIT with a career-high seven points on three goals and four assists. Kyle Killen (Peterborough, Ontario/Crestwood Secondary) finished with three goals and four points, and Jay Vakiener (Fairport, NY/Fairport) finished with three goals. Quinn Commandant (Rockwood, Ontario/The Kiski School), Ryan Tandy (Montrose, NY/Hendrick-Hudson) and Aidan Milburn (Vancouver, British Columbia/Sentinel Secondary) each scored two goals. Nate Farrell (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) won 13-of-27 face-offs and had four ground balls. Trevor Smyth (Orangeville, Ontario/The Kiski School) led the Tigers with eight ground balls. The Tigers caused nine turnovers, led by Matt Pogue (Mississauga, Ontario/St. Paul Secondary) and Eli Salama (Coquitlam, British Columbia/Dr. Charles Best) who each caused two. Walker Hare (Libertyville, IL/Libertyville) improved to 12-0 on the season, making 10 saves. 

Zach Lukas led RPI with three goals and four points. Lucas Bastarache tallied two goals, Ryan Cole and Cliff Kigar each had three points. Parker Smith took the loss in net, making 14 saves.

RIT led 5-1 after the first quarter, tallying the first three goals of the game. Milburn, Cam Isaac (Webster, NY/Webster Thomas), Tandy, Commandant and Vakiener each scored for the Tigers who held a slight 10-9 shot advantage. Bastarache scored the Engineers lone goal off an assist from Kelly at the 5:11 mark of the quarter.

RPI scored the first two goals of the second quarter, cutting the RIT lead to 5-3 on Kigar's man-up goal off an assist from Lukas at 8:48 of the quarter. Killen gave the Tigers a 6-3 lead on his goal off the ensuing face-off, taking a pass from Farrell and scoring from distance. Lukas made it 6-4 on his second goal of the quarter with 6:59 remaining in the half.

Barnable took a pass from Nally and scored on a nice bounce shot to give the Tigers a 7-4 lead with 4:23 to play in the quarter. Brendan MacDonald (Georgetown, Ontario/Trinity-Pawling) made it 8-4 on a sweet transition goal by the Tigers on the ensuing face-off. 

Goals from Commandant and Vakiener early in the third quarter extended the Tigers lead to 10-4. Nally made it 11-5 on his first goal of the game with 4:07 remaining in the third quarter. He took a feed from Chris Brown (Homer, NY/Homer) and buried a shot for his 17th goal of the season. After RPI converted a man-up chance, Milburn scored off a nice feed from Barnable to give the Tigers a 12-6 lead late in the third. Nally scored his second of the quarter with 23 seconds remaining to give the Tigers a 13-6 lead.

Two straight goals from Cole early in the fourth quarter cut the RIT lead to 13-8. Bastarache made it three straight for the Engineers, cutting the RIT lead to 13-9 on his second of the game with 14:19 remaining. Tandy broke the run with a man-up goal with 8:13 to play off a feed from Beau Riley (Homer, NY/Homer) to give the Tigers a five-goal cushion.

Moments later, RIT moved the ball around patiently on offense, extending its lead to 15-9 on Vakiener's third goal of the game. He swept right and fired a shot into the corner giving the Tigers a six-goal lead with 6:37 remaining. After a Kelly goal cut the Tigers lead to 15-10, Nally tallied his third of the game, this time a man-up goal, with 4:44 to play to make it 16-10 Tigers. After a RPI goal made it 16-11, Killen scored with 2:28 left to give RIT a 17-11 lead. Killen put the game away with his second straight from in close off an assist from Nally with 1:28 remaining.

RIT scored at least 18 goals for the eighth time in 2018. The Tigers are out-scoring their opponents, 213-96 this season and boast eight players with at least 20 points.

RIT returns to action on Wednesday, April 11 when the Tigers face Liberty League newcomer Ithaca College at 4 p.m. in Ithaca, N.Y. The Bombers are ranked 18th in Division III.