ROCHESTER, NY – Despite a furious nine-goal fourth quarter comeback, the No. 1 RIT (21-1) men's lacrosse team had its season ended with a 19-18 defeat to No. 5 Wesleyan University (18-3) in the 2018 NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Semifinal Sunday afternoon on the campus of RIT. Wesleyan advances to the NCAA Championship game and will face the winner between No. 3 Gettysburg and No. 7 Salisbury at 1 p.m. on Sunday, May 27 from Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.

Shots were 43-35 in favor of Wesleyan, who held a slight 36-32 ground ball edge. RIT won 21-of-40 face-offs and was 9-of-10 on clearing attempts. Wesleyan went 1-of-3 on ma-up, while the Tigers failed to convert on its only chance.

Kyle Killen (Peterborough, Ontario/Crestwood Secondary) led the Tigers with five goals and an assist, while Ryan Barnable (Whitby, Ontario/Donald A. Wilson) tallied career-best totals of six assists and seven points. Ryan Tandy (Montrose, NY/Hendrick-Hudson) tallied four goals, while Aidan Milburn (Vancouver, British Columbia/Sentinel Secondary) finished with two goals. Nate Farrell (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) won a career-high 21-of-40 draws and had seven ground balls, while Walker Hare (Libertyville, IL/Libertyville) to the loss in net, making 10 saves.

Harry Stanton led Wesleyan with six goals, while Christian Barker and Carter Hawthorne each tallied two goals and two assists. Zach Zavalick won 18-of-38 face-offs, and Otto Bohan got the win in net, making 10 saves.

"I thought we had the group to do it (win a national title) this season," said RIT head coach Jake Coon. "However, we ran into a really good Wesleyan team today and they played a little better."

After spotting RIT an early 3-2 lead in the opening quarter, Wesleyan scored five straight goals and nine of the next 11 to take an 11-5 lead into halftime. RIT fought back with four straight goals to open the second half to cut the lead to 11-9 on Killen's goal with 6:30 remaining in the third quarter. Wesleyan would score a man-up goal later in the third to up its lead to 12-9 and stun the RIT faithful with five straight goals in a span of 5:05 early in the fourth quarter to take what looked to be an insurmountable 17-9 edge with 8:52 left.

RIT would not go away however, rattling off four straight goals in 1:40 span to get it to 17-13 on Tandy's goal with 6:12 remaining. After Taylor Ghesquiere scored with 5:17 left to up the Cardinals lead back to five, RIT responded with four more goals in a span of 2:06, including goals seven seconds apart by Tandy and Killen to cut the lead to 18-17.
 
RIT would win the ensuing face-off but turned the ball over. Wesleyan looked to have turned the ball over on its next possession on an errant pass, but it was ruled a shot, allowing them to keep possession. Stanton would score his sixth of the day with 1:08 left, giving Wesleyan a 19-17 lead.
 
The Tigers would gain possession and with 4.2 seconds left, get back to within one on Killen's fifth of the day and 86th goal of the season. Wesleyan would be called for its third face-off violation of the half, giving RIT a man-up on the ensuing draw with a chance to tie. Unfortunately for RIT, a pass into the box was broken up and time ran out, allowing Wesleyan to hold on for the win.
 
The Cardinals exacted revenge after RIT won last year's national semifinal final from Tiger Stadium, 22-9.
 
Killen became just the third player in RIT's 50-year history to reach 100 points in a season, doing so on his goal with 7:14 remaining that made it 17-11. He finishes the year with 104 points on 86 goals and 18 assists.
 
RIT is now 27-20 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and 21-9 since Coon took over as head coach in 2010. RIT advanced to the national semifinals for 10th time in program history and sixth time in the last eight seasons. 
 
The Tigers finished the season with 391 goals in 22 games, third most in program history.