Men's Lacrosse | 5/26/2021 12:28:00 PM

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SUNDAY, MAY 31 - 4PM
RIT VS. SALISBURY
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ROCHESTER, NY -- The RIT men's lacrosse team will face Salisbury University in the 2021 NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse National Championship this Sunday (May 31) at 4:00 p.m., from Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Conn. It is the third time the Tigers will compete for the national championship, and the first trip since 2017.
 
RIT is making its 11th-straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament and 22nd overall. The Tigers have made 16 appearances in the quarterfinals, including nine of the last 10 seasons, and six trips to the semifinal. Sunday's win over Tufts in the semifinal was the 32nd NCAA Tournament victory in program history, improving to 32-21 all-time.
 
RIT advanced to the championship game with an 18-16 win over No. 1 Tufts. Trailing 9-5 midway through the second quarter, the Tigers scored four straight goals to tie the score at 9-9 at halftime on a Dawson Tait (Ottawa, Ontario/Mother Teresa) tally late in the half. RIT outscored Tufts 7-2 in the third quarter, including six straight goals to take a 15-10 lead. Junior midfielder Ryan Rosenblum (Limerick, PA/Spring-Ford) scored the eventual game-winner with 5:22 to play in the fourth.

RIT's attack unit of Larson Sundown (Basom, NY/Akron), Quinn Commandant (Rockwood, Ontario/The Kiski School) and Tait combined to score 11 goals and 16 assists against Tufts. Sundown tallied six points on two goals and four assists, while Tait tallied five goals. Commandant finished with four goals and five points. Rosenblum tallied two goals and two assists, while Marley Angus (Oakville, Ontario/Holy Trinity) scored four goals. Pent Eistrat (Toronto, Ontario/Humberside Collegiate), Matt Wiechers (Waterloo, Ontario/The Kiski School) and Ryan Agedal (LaFayette, NY/LaFayette) each had two assists.
 
Senior face-off specialist Nick Montemorano (Victor, NY/Victor) won 23-of-36 draws and led RIT with 14 ground balls. Senior goalie Walker Hare (Libertyville, IL/Libertyville) picked up the win in net for the Tigers, finishing with 10 saves.
 
RIT enters Sunday averaging 17.7 goals per game, and are eighth in Division III in man-up, converting 56.4 percent (22-of-39) of its chances. The Tigers have outscored their opponents 231-121 this season, including a season-high 25 goals in a win over Cortland in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
 
RIT features 12 players with 10 or more points and eight players with at least 10 goals. Tait leads RIT in scoring with 59 points on 47 goals and 12 assists. Sundown is second in scoring with 49 points on 23 goals and 26 assists, while Quinn Commandant (Rockwood, Ontario/The Kiski School) is third in scoring with 43 points on 30 goals and 12 assists.
 
Defensively, RIT allows 9.31 goals per game and averages 37.5 ground balls per contest. The Tigers have won 55.6 percent of its face-offs (218-of-392), and held opponents to eight man-up goals in 34 chances (76.4 percent).
Sunday's game between RIT and Salisbury will be the second time these two programs have face the other. The first was in the 2017 national title game which Salisbury won, 15-7. RIT trailed 6-4 at halftime, but were outscored 9-3 in the second half. Braden Wallace led the Tigers with four goals.
 
The Seagulls, winners of 12 national championships, is making its 38th overall appearance in the NCAA Tournament.  The Seagulls advanced to the championship game with an 18-8 win over Christopher Newport in last Sunday's semifinal.  Josh Melton led the Seagulls with five goals and six points, while Jarrett Bromwell tallied four goals. T.J. Ellis got the win in net, making five saves.
 
Salisbury enters the weekend third in Division III, averaging 20.94 goals per game. The Seagulls are eighth nationally, allowing 6.29 goals per contest. The Seagulls are 30-of-59 (50.8 percent) on man-up, are tenth in Division III winning  68.9 percent (377-of-547) of their face-offs, and average 42.1 ground balls per game.
 
Senior Cross Ferrara leads Salisbury in scoring with 102 points on 76 goals and 26 assists. Josh Melton is second on the team with 92 points and leads the Seagulls with 52 assists. Jarrett Bromwell is third in scoring with 79 points, including 70 goals.
 
Senior goalie T.J. Ellis has seen the majority of the minutes in net in 2021, posting a 15-1 record. He enters Sunday third in Division III with a 5.69 goals against average to go along with a .589 save percentage. Senior Brett Malamphy is fifth in Division III, winning 75.7 (221-of-292) of his draws, and leads the team with 142 ground balls. Graduate student Kevin Murphy leads the Seagulls with 31 caused turnovers.