Men's Lacrosse beats Union 26-9 in Liberty League Semifinal

ROCHESTER, NY – RIT junior Clifford Gaston tallied four goals and seven points to lead the top-seeded Tigers to a 26-9 win over No. 4 Union in Friday's Liberty League Tournament Semifinal.
 
Graduate student attack Luke Pilcher tallied three goals and two assists, while graduate student attack Jake Erickson recorded two goals and two assists. Senior midfielder Dylan Bruno scored two goals and added an assist and graduate student attack TJ Hendricks finished with three goals.
 
Senior long-stick midfielder Caleb Commandant had two of the Tigers 10 caused turnovers, while sophomore goalie Alex Zborowski made 11 saves. Graduate student face-off specialist Allyn French won 7-of-11 draws.
 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Gaston, Bruno and sophomore midfielder Chase Bruno each scored in RIT's three-goal run to start the game. 
• Union scored back-to-back goals, cutting the RIT lead to 3-2 on Michael Shaw's goal with 8:51 remaining in the opening frame.
• Gaston recorded two goals and two assists in a seven-goal RIT run to finish the quarter, giving RIT a 10-2 lead on his goal off an assist from Pilcher with eight seconds to play.
• Gaston scored early in the second quarter followed by a goal from junior midfielder Sean Tierney to increase RIT's lead to 12-2.
• Union scored two straight goals, cutting RIT's lead to 12-4 on Matt McKenzie's goal with 10:54 to play in the half.
• Hendricks scored off an assist from Gaston with 6:48 remaining to give the Tigers a 13-4 lead.
• Bruno scored on a nice behind-the-back shot with eight seconds to play to give RIT a 14-5 halftime lead.
• RIT outscored Union, 8-2 in the third quarter. Pilcher and Erickson each had a goal and an assist, while senior attack Cameron Gebhardt tallied a goal and two assists in the quarter.
• Bruno, senior midfielder Caiden Perry, first-year midfielder David Charney, senior midfielder Miles Tillman and junior attack Jack Budway each scored in the third quarter for the Tigers.
• Budway, senior midfielder Josh Hamill, junior midfielder Sam Bennett and sophomore attack Tyson Allison each scored in a four-goal RIT run to begin the fourth quarter. Allison's goal off an assist from junior attack Eric Burbank gave RIT a 26-7 lead.
• Nolan Flood and Liam McGovern each scored for Union in the closing minutes to make it a 26-9 final.

 
GAME NOTES:

• RIT outshot Union, 59-28.
• RIT was 29-of-31 on clears and had 50 ground balls.
• Gaston scored his 200th career point, moving past Quinn Commandant for 13th all-time with 202 career points. He moves into eight all-time with 144 career goals.

 
WHAT'S NEXT
RIT returns to action on Sunday (May 5) against No. 3 seed RPI at noon in the Liberty League Final.