ROCHESTER, N.Y. - RIT senior
Kaden Brunson tallied four goals and five points to lead the Tigers to a 23-9 win over Hope in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament, Friday.
First-year midfielder
David Charney, junior attackmen
Ethan Harkins and
Jack Budway each tallied three goals and four points, while graduate student attack
Luke Pilcher and
Jake Erickson each scored two goals. Senior midfielder
Ian Dinga recorded two goals and two assists, senior midfielder
Dylan Bruno had two goals and an assist and senior
Cameron Gebhardt and junior
Clifford Gaston each had three assists.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Harkins and junior midfielder Dominic Comella scored back-to-back goals early in the first quarter to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead.
- Hope's Nick McCreery scored to cut the deficit to 2-1 before Brunson gave RIT a 3-1 lead on his goal with 6:59 remaining in the quarter.
- Bruno scored twice in a RIT four-goal run. Charney scored off an assist from Gebhardt with 51 seconds remaining in the quarter to extend RIT's lead to 7-2.
- Pilcher and Brunson scored back-to-back goals early in the second quarter, taking an 11-4 lead on Dinga's goal with 3:39 remaining in the half.
- Drew Carran scored for Hope to cut the lead to 11-5 before Charney scored off a feed from Gebhardt to give the Tigers a 12-5 halftime lead.
- Hope scored the first two goals of the third quarter, cutting RIT's lead to 12-7 on McCreery's goal with 9:07 to play in the quarter.
- Pilcher and Erickson tallied back-to-back goals, extending RIT's lead to 14-7 on Erickson's goal with 4:13 remaining in the third.
- Mann scored for Hope to cut the deficit to 14-8 before a Harkins goal gave the Tigers a 15-8 lead.
- RIT began the fourth quarter with an eight-goal run. Budway scored four goals, while Harkins had a goal and an assist in the quarter. Charney, Erickson, Dinga and Harkins each scored.
- Sam Bowen scored inside the final minute to make it a 23-9 final.
GAME NOTES:
- RIT outshot Hope, 55-35
- The Tigers were 23-of-23 on clearing attempts and won 28-of-35 face offs
- RIT went 3-for-3 on man-up
- Senior Kyle Burbank made 15 saves in relief of sophomore Alex Zborowski
- Senior face-off specialist Nick Farrell won 22-of-29 draws and led RIT with 11 ground balls.
WHAT'S NEXT
RIT returns to action on Saturday (May 11) against Babson in the third round of the NCAA Tournament at 3:00 p.m.