Men's Lacrosse loses 18-14 to Tufts in Division III National Championship

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – RIT graduate student John Mozrall tallied five points on a goal and four assists in the Tigers 18-14 loss to Tufts in the NCAA Division III Championship game, Sunday.
 
Graduate student Luke Pilcher scored three goals, while junior Ethan Harkins tallied a goal and two assists. Graduate student Jake Erickson and senior Kaden Brunson each scored two goals.
 
Graduate student Allyn French won 12 draws and had nine ground balls and senior Hunter FitzGibbons and graduate student Tanner Winkleman each had two caused turnovers. Sophomore Alex Zborowski made 12 saves in net.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Charlie Tagliaferri gave the Jumbos a 1-0 lead on his goal 18 seconds into the game.
• Brunson tied the game before Tagliafferi struck again to give Tufts a 2-1 lead.
• Sophomore Chase Bruno tied the game at 2-2 on his goal on a sweep from midfield with 10:04 to play in the quarter.
• Tufts ran off three straight goals, taking a 5-2 lead on Cam Delcristo's goal with 6:31 to play.
• Mozrall scored off an assist from Gaston to cut the deficit to 5-3.
• Tufts scored three straight goals, taking an 8-3 lead on Garrett Kelly's goal.
• Senior Connor Finneran scored in transition and Erickson scored off a feed from Mozrall with 2:12 to play in the opening frame to cut the Jumbo's lead to 8-5.
• Brunson scored his second of the game early in the second quarter to cut the Tuft's lead to 8-6.
• Garret Kelly gave Tufts a 9-6 lead on his goal with 12:21 to play in the half.
• Seniors Dylan Bruno and Ian Dinga and Harkins each scored in a three-goal RIT run, tying the game at 9-9 on Harkins' man-up goal with 8:19 to play in the opening half.
• Kelly scored his third goal of the opening half with 5:33 to play to give the Jumbos a 10-9 halftime lead.
• Chase Beyer scored the first goal of the third quarter to give Tufts an 11-9 lead.
• Pilcher scored in transition off an assist from Finneran with 11:47 to play to cut the deficit to 11-10.
• Erickson tallied his second goal of the game off an assist from Mozrall with 10:36 remaining to tie the score at 11-11.
• Gaston scored off an assist from Pilcher with 6:09 remaining in the third off to cut the Tufts' lead to 13-12.
• Pilcher scored with the shot-clock running out to tie the game at 13-13 inside the final four minutes of the quarter.
• Tufts scored the first three goals of the fourth quarter, taking a 16-13 lead Kelly's goal with 6:50 to play.
• Pilcher scored off an assist from Mozrall to cut Tufts' lead to 16-14 with 4:59 to play, but Tufts tacked on two goals in the final two minutes to make it an 18-14 final.

 
GAME NOTES

• Today was RIT's fifth National Championship game appearance since 2013 and third in four years.
• RIT and Tufts combined to score 13 first-quarter goals which is the most goals scored in an opening quarter in DIII championship history.
• Gaston tied the program-record for points in a season, finishing with 111 points.
• Tufts outshot RIT, 55-40.
• RIT went 21-of-25 on clearing attempts and 1-for-2 on man-up.
• Chase Bruno, Connor Finneran and Gaston each had a goal and an assist.