SALISBURY, MD – RIT sophomore
Ryan Sanders scored a season-high seven goals including the overtime game winner to lead the No. 10 Tigers to a 12-11 win over Salisbury in the Third Round of the NCAA Tournament, Saturday.
Senior attack
Ethan Harkins tallied a goal and three assists. Junior midfielder
Jackson McEnerney scored two goals and sophomore midfielder
Ryan Bullock each scored a goal.
Junior long-stick midfielder
Logan Fletcher led the Tigers with three caused turnovers. Fletcher scooped up five ground balls while junior defenseman
Joe Holenstein and senior defenseman
Alexander Chairs each led four ground balls. Senior goalie
Alex Zborowski made 13 saves for the Tigers.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Bullock scored early in the first quarter to give RIT a 1-0 lead.
- Ryan Della tied the game 1-1 with his goal with 12:30 to play in the opening frame.
- Sanders gave RIT a 2-1 lead on his goal off an assist from Harkins with 11:11 to play in the first.
- McEnerney gave the Tigers a 3-1 lead off an assist from sophomore midfielder James Corry.
- Preston Huffman cut RIT's lead to 3-2 on his goal.
- First year midfielder Ewen Patrick scored with 18 seconds remaining in the first to give RIT a 4-2 lead.
- Salisbury scored the first four goals of the second quarter, taking a 6-4 lead on Riley Strub's goal with 12:03 remaining in the quarter.
- Sanders scored two straight goals, tying the game 6-6 on his goal with 10:16 remaining in the second quarter off an assist from senior face-off specialist Ethan Spillane.
- Cooper Keese scored with 2:24 to play to give the Seagulls a 7-6 lead at halftime.
- Sanders scored his fourth goal of the game early in the third quarter to tie the game 7-7.
- Huffman scored to give Salisbury an 8-7 lead and Bret Bergey tallied a man-up goal with 6:32 remaining in the quarter to give the Seagulls a 9-7 lead.
- Harkins and Acton tallied back-to-back goals early in the fourth quarter to tie the game 9-9.
- Ryan Della gave Salisbury a 10-9 lead on his goal 8:34 remaining.
- McEnerney tied the game 10-10 and Sanders gave RIT an 11-10 lead on his fifth goal of the game with 5:47 remaining.
- Huffman tied the game 11-11 on his goal with 1:17 remaining.
- Zborowski and RIT's defense came up with a big stop in overtime.
- Harkins fed Sanders with the pass and he fired a shot into the top corner to send the Tigers to the Quarterfinals.
GAME NOTES:
- Salisbury outshot RIT 44-38.
- The Tigers went 27-of-29 on clearing attempts and won six face-offs.
- RIT went 1-for-3 on man-up and had 41 ground balls.
- RIT advances to the NCAA Quarterfinals 19th time overall including nine straight season.
- This RIT's 27th appearance in the NCAA Tournament winning back-to-back national title in 2021 and 2022.
WHAT'S NEXT:
RIT returns to action on Friday (May 15) against No. 3 Babson in the NCAA Quarterfinal at 7:00 p.m. in Brunswick, Maine.