Men's Lacrosse loses 15-14 to RPI in Liberty League Championship
ROCHESTER, NY – RIT graduate student Jake Erickson tallied four assists and six points in the Tigers 15-14 loss to RPI in Sunday's Liberty League Tournament Championship.
Junior attack Clifford Gaston tallied four goals and an assist and graduate student attack Luke Pilcher and junior midfielder Kaden Brunson each had two goals and two assists.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Graduate student midfielder John Mozrall scored off an assist from Erickson to give RIT the lead early in the first quarter.
- RPI's Luke Murphy tied the game at 1-1, but senior midfielder Ian Dinga gave the Tiger's a 2-1 lead on his goal with 11:15 remaining in the opening frame.
- Murphy scored his second goal of the quarter with 11:08 to play to tie the game at 2-2.
- Gaston and Erickson scored back-to-back goals, giving RIT a 4-2 lead on Erickson's goal with 5:33 to play.
- Zach Swanson scored to make it 4-3 before consecutive goals from Gaston and senior midfielder Dylan Bruno in the closing moments of the quarter gave RIT a 6-3 lead after the first 15 minutes.
- RPI scored the first two goals of the second quarter, pulling to within 6-5 on Ely Kalkstein's goal with 9:46 remaining.
- Brunson gave RIT a 7-5 lead and Erickson made it 8-5 on his goal off an assist from Gaston with 8:36 to play in the first half.
- Erik Ojert scored with 4:40 remaining to cut the Tiger's lead to 8-6.
- Brunson and Gaston each scored in the closing stages of the quarter, extending RIT's lead to 10-6 on Gaston's goal with six seconds remaining.
- Nick Porter scored early in the third quarter to cut the RIT lead to 10-7.
- Pilcher scored off an assist from Bruno midway through the quarter to give RIT an 11-7 lead.
- Rensselaer scored the final three goals of the third quarter, cutting RIT's lead to 11-10 on Murphy's goal late in the quarter.
- The Engineers scored the first three goals of the fourth quarter, taking a 13-11 lead on Ojert's goal with 12:27 to play in regulation.
- Gaston and Pilcher each scored back-to-back man-up goals, tying the game at 13-13 on Pilcher's goal from Brunson with 9:31 remaining.
- Senior midfielder Michael Finneran gave RIT a 14-13 lead on his goal with 5:51 to play.
- Anthony Mazzella tied the game on his goal with 1:06 remaining and Tyler Ruffini scored the game-winning goal with three seconds to play to make it a 15-14 final.
GAME NOTES:
- RIT outshot Rensselaer, 54-40.
- RIT was 20-of-23 on clears and had 38 ground balls.
- RIT sophomore goalie Alex Zborowski made eight saves in net.
- It is the first time RIT has lost a Liberty League Tournament game since joining the conference in 2012 (23-1) and its first loss in a conference tournament since 2008.
- It is the first home loss since a double overtime loss to Williams in the quarterfinals of the 2019 NCAA Tournament.
WHAT'S NEXT
RIT awaits an at-large berth into the 2024 NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship. Tune into the selection show on NCAA.com on Sunday (May 5) at 9:00 p.m. to see where the Tigers will compete.
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