ROCHESTER, NY -- The No. 1 RIT (17-1) men's lacrosse team advanced to the Liberty League Championship for the eighth straight season with a 17-13 win over No. 5 seed St. Lawrence University (13-4) in semifinal action from RIT's Turf Field Wednesday afternoon. The Tigers will face No 2 seed Union College in the title game on Saturday, May 4 at 1 p.m.

Shots were 48-32 in favor of RIT, as they also held a 46-35 edge in the ground ball battle. The Tigers went 4-for-4 on man-up, won 20-of-34 face-offs and cleared the ball sucessfully 13-of-20 times.

Dawson Tait (Ottawa, Ontario/Mother Teresa) led RIT with five goals and seven points. Cameron Gebhardt (Fairport, NY/Fairport), Damon Currie, Cam Isaac (Webster, NY/Webster Thomas) and Spencer Bell (Fairport, NY/Fairport) each scored two goals. Shawn Nally (Rochester, NY/McQuaid) and Ryan Barnable (Whitby, Ontario/Donald A. Wilson) each tallied a goal and two assists, while Trevor Smyth (Orangeville, Ontario/The Kiski School) handed out three assists.

Walker Hare (Libertyville, IL/Libertyville) improved to 17-1 on the season in net for RIT, making 10 saves. Nick Montemorano (Victor, NY/Victor) won 20-of-34 draws and had a career-high 13 ground balls. Smyth caused three turnovers and had six ground balls, while Andrew Powlin (Penfield, NY/Penfield)g scooped up four ground balls.

Jack Hennessey led St. Lawrence with three goals and four points. Nick Brindisi tallied three goals, while Mike Donnelley and Ben Murtagh each tallied two goals. Alex Terry took the loss in net for the Saints, making 11 saves.

St.Lawrence took the early lead when Brindisi tallied an unassisted goal at the 10:48 mark of the first quarter. The Tigers responded with three straight goals, taking a 3-1 lead on a goal from Ryan Tandy (Montrose, NY/Hendrick-Hudson) off an assist from Tait with 4:28 remaining in the quarter. Gebhardt and Curries each scored. The Saints rallied at the end of the quarter, scoring three straight goals in a span of 2:40 to take a 4-3 lead. Donnelly, Mark Mahoney and Brinidisi each scored in the run for St. Lawrence to give them the edge heading to the second quarter.

Nally broke the Saints run with his goal off an assist from Tandy to open the second-quarter scoring. Bell gave RIT a 5-4 lead on his transition goal off an assist from Smyth. After a Murtagh goal tied the score at 6-6, the Tigers ran off three straight goals, taking a 9-6 lead on Gebhardt's second goal of the half. Goals from Donnelly and Harrison Koch, who scored with 14 seconds remaining in the first half that cut the Tigers lead to 9-8 at the break.

Tait opened the scoring into the third quarter, scoring off an assist from Currie that increased the RIT lead to 10-8. Currie took a pass from Tait and gave the Tigers an 11-8 lead on his 17th goal of the season. Tait gave the Tigers a 12-8 lead on his goal off an assist from Nally with 12:02 to play in the quarter.

The Saints sandwiched a pair of goals in between an Isaac goal, cutting the RIT lead to 13-10 on Brindisi's goal with 2:25 to play in the third quarter. Koch cut the RIT lead to 13-11 on his goal two minutes into the fourth quarter. Tait answered with two straight goals, giving the Tigers a 15-11 lead on fifth goal of the game with 10 minutes to play in regulation. Hennessey tallied twice for the Saints in the quarter, while late goals from Bell and Barnable helped seal the win for the Tigers.

RIT surpassed the 300-goal mark on the season for the seventh consecutive year.

The Tigers also defeated the Saints, 11-7 on April 20 and now hold a 28-14 edge in the all-time series.

RIT vies for its eighth straight Liberty League crown, and tenth straight league title overall on Saturday. The Tigers defeated Union 12-9 in the regular season final on April 24 in Schenectady, N.Y. The winner of Saturday's game earns the automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Tournament.