BRUNSWICK, ME – RIT junior
Erich Acton scored a career-high seven goals and 10 points to lead the No. 10 Tigers to a 21-14 win over No. 3 Babson in the Quarterfinal of the NCAA Tournament, Friday.
Sophomore attack
Ryan Sanders handed out a season-high seven assists and 11 points. Senior attack
Ethan Harkins scored three goals and sophomore midfielder
Ryan Bullock scored two goals. Junior midfielder
David Charney and first year defensive midfielder
Anthony DeRosa each had two assists while senior defensive midfielder
Cole Teeple and sophomore midfielder
Ryan Langille each tallied a goal and an assist.
Senior face-off specialist
Ethan Spillane won 16-of-29 draws and led RIT with seven ground balls. Teeple led the Tigers with two caused turnovers. Junior defenseman
Joe Holenstein had five ground balls and junior long-stick midfielder
Logan Fletcher had four. Senior goalie
Alex Zborowski made 11 saves for the Tigers.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Acton scored 30 seconds into the game to give RIT a 1-0 lead.
- Patrick McAleavey tied the game 1-1 with 12:34 remaining in the opening frame.
- RIT ran off three straight goals, taking a 4-1 lead on Acton's goal with 8:39 to play in the quarter.
- Seamus Rooney capped off a two-goal Babson spurt that cut the Tiger's lead to 4-3.
- Teeple scored a man-down goal to give RIT a 5-3 lead.
- Babson's Bennett Smith scored two straight goals to tie the score 5-5.
- The Tigers scored two straight goals inside the final 1:46 of the quarter, including a goal from Sanders with eight seconds to play to give RIT a 7-5 lead.
- Acton scored 27 seconds into the second quarter to give RIT an 8-5 lead.
- Joey Allen tied the score 8-8 on his goal with 12:12 remaining in the second that capped off a three-goal run from Babson.
- RIT ran off three straight goals, taking an 11-8 lead on Harkins' goal with 7:04 to play in the first half.
- Andrew Berardi scored to make it 11-9 before sophomore midfielder James Corry scored to give RIT a 12-9 lead.
- Babson's Allen scored with 1:25 remaining to cut RIT's lead to 12-10 at halftime.
- RIT outscored Babson 7-0 in the third quarter to extend its lead to 19-10.
- Sanders scored three goals, Acton two and Langille and Bullock each scored.
- The Tigers defense held Babson to three shots on goal and forced the Beavers into five turnovers in a scoreless third quarter.
- Allen and Reilly scored back-to-back goals early in the fourth quarter that cut RIT's lead to 19-12.
- Junior long-stick midfielder Adam Wong scored off an assist from Sanders to give RIT a 20-12 lead.
- Ryan St. Onge and Jack Feeks each scored to cut the deficit to 20-14.
- Senior attack Tyson Allison scored with 5:56 remaining to make it a 21-14 final.
GAME NOTES:
- RIT outshot Babson 50-42, including 35 on target.
- The Tigers went 17-of-18 on clearing attempts and held Babson to 13-of-22.
- RIT won 20-of-39 face-offs and had 28 ground balls.
- RIT advances to the NCAA Semifinals for the sixth straight season.
- This is 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 Saturday (May 16) at No. 2 Bowdoin in the NCAA Semifinal at 7:00 p.m.
