ROCHESTER, NY -- The No. 2 RIT (15-1, 7-0 Liberty League) men's lacrosse team secured a first round bye in the Liberty League Tournament with an 11-7 win over No. 19 St. Lawrence University 11-3, 4-3 Liberty League) in Liberty League action Saturday afternoon.
Prior to the game the Tigers honored the Class of 2019.
Chandler Allen,
Chris Brown,
Luke Henderson,
Cam Isaac,
Holden McDonald,
Shawn Nally,
Matt Pogue,
Trevor Smyth and
Matt Streit made their final regular season appearance on RIT's Turf Field.
Shots were 41-39 in favor of St. Lawrence, while the Tigers won the ground ball battle, 40-35. The Tigers won 12-of-22 face-offs, cleared the ball 13-of-15 times and went 1-for-2 on man-up.
Ryan Barnable led RIT with three goals and four points.
Adam Wolf and and
Ryan Tandy each scored two goals, while Nally and
Dawson Tait each had ta goal an two assists for three points. Goalkeeper
Walker Hare improved to 15-1 on the season, making 14 saves.
Nick Montemorano and
Landon Nolta each won six face-offs. Pogue led the Tigers with seven ground balls, and Allen and
Julien Guay each caused three turnovers.
Mark Mahoney and Jack Souminen led the Saints with two goals apiece, while Mike Donnelly tallied a goal and an assist. Alex Terry took the loss in net, making nine saves.
Tandy scored the lone goal of the first quarter, giving the Tigers a 1-0 lead on his goal halfway through off an assist from Barnable. He gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead on his unassisted goal 36 seconds into the second quarter. After a Donnelly goal cut the RIT to 2-1, the Tigers ran off three straight goals, extending their lead to 5-1 on Tandy's goal with 5:28 to play in the first half. Mark Mahoney scored with 23 seconds to play in the quarter that cut the RIT lead to 5-2 at halftime.
Cam Isaac and
Adam Wolf each scored to begin the third quarter. Wolf's goal from a sharp angle at the 8:44 mark gave the Tigers a 7-2 lead. The Saints made a run, scoring four straight goals, cutting the RIT lead to 7-6 on Matt Ellis' goal with 5:26 to play in the quarter. Suominen tallied two goals, while David Jennings scored.
The Tigers responded, taking an 8-6 lead on Tait's goal off an assist from Nally with 4:37 to play in the quarter. Nally took a pass from Tait and scored with 2:04 to play in the third quarter to extend the RIT lead to 9-6. Barnable gave the Tigers a 10-6 on his goal early in the fourth quarter, and
Trevor Smyth put the game away on his goal off a feed from Nally. Mahoney tallied a late goal to make it an 11-7 final.
RIT wraps up the 2019 regular season with a showdown at Liberty League co-leader Union College at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, April 24. Both teams enter the game with a 7-0 conference mark. The winner will earn the Liberty League regular season championship and be the top-seed in the league tournament, which begins on April 27.
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