PITTSFORD, N.Y. – RIT graduate students Luke Pilcher and Jake Erickson each tallied five points to help the No. 2 Tigers to a 19-9 win at Nazareth, Wednesday.
 
Pilcher and Erickson each finished with a goal and four assists, while junior Clifford Gaston scored six goals. Seniors Kaden Brunson and Dylan Bruno each scored three goals, while senior Seth Grottenthaler had three assists.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Gaston scored five of his six goals in a seven-goal first quarter for the Tigers, including three straight tallies to extend RIT's lead to 7-2.
• Bruno and juniors Ian Dinga and Connor Finneran each scored early in the second quarter. Bruno's goal off an assist from Erickson with 9:27 remaining gave RIT a 10-3 lead.
• Nazareth's William O'Neill and Matthew Farrington scored back-to-back goals to cut the RIT lead to 10-5.
• Finneran scored his second of the game with 2:57 to play in the half to give RIT an 11-5 lead, but Michael Bergan scored with 2:57 remaining to cut the Tiger's lead to 11-7 at halftime.
• Nazareth scored the only two goals of the third quarter, cutting RIT's lead to 11-8 on Andy Hamel's goal with 11:28 remaining in the quarter.
• RIT scored eight straight goals in the fourth quarter, taking a 19-4 lead on Pilcher's goal from graduate student Tanner Winklemann with 35 seconds to play.
• Luke Suchyna scored for Nazareth in the closing seconds to make it a 19-9 final.

 
GAME NOTES

• RIT outshot Nazareth, 48-34.
• Sophomore goalie Alex Zborowski made 11 saves in net to improve to 3-0 on the season
• Seniors Caiden Perry and Michael Grace each caused two turnovers, while graduate student Allyn French won 19-of-24 face offs and grabbed 10 ground balls.
• Gaston scored his 100th career goal, making him the 27th player in program history to reach 100 goals.

 
WHAT'S NEXT
RIT returns to action on Saturday (March 2) at No. 10 York (Pa.) at 1:00 p.m.