Sophomore Jack Hennessey scored three goals and added an assist and senior captain Nick Brindisi added three goals, but the 18th-ranked and fifth-seeded St. Lawrence University men's lacrosse team fell to No. 1 and top-seeded RIT, 17-13, in game one of the Liberty League semifinals on Wednesday afternoon in Rochester, New York.

Mike Donnelly and Ben Murtagh each scored twice for the Saints, while Peter Koch, Harrison Koch and Mark Mahoney all scored once. Hennessey, Donnelly, Zachary Prime and Zachary Ettinghausen each picked up four ground balls, while Prime went 13-for-31 at the faceoff dot and Ettinghausen caused a team-best two turnovers for the Scarlet and Brown.

Brindisi put the Saints on the board first, but the Tigers netted three straight goals to build a 3-1 lead. The Scarlet and Brown rallied with three unanswered goals of their own to lead 4-3 after 15 minutes of play.

A back-and-forth battle through the second quarter, left the Tigers with a one goal advantage (9-8) at halftime.

RIT netted scored another three unanswered goals, including two man-up tallies from Damon Currie and Dawson Tait, before suffering three penalties at once and a man-up goal from Hennessey.

The Tigers held on to a 13-10 lead heading into the fourth quarter and outscored the Saints 4-3 in the fourth and 8-6 in the second half to seal the win.

"I thought our guys battled hard for 60 minutes today," said head coach Mike Mahoney '93 P'22. "RIT is number one in the country for a reason because they keep coming at you and capitalize on any mistakes. I feel strongly that this team and especially the senior leaders are deserving of another opportunity to play again. We will keep our fingers crossed and see how it shakes down."

Tait scored five goals and added two assists to lead the Tigers with seven points, while Ryan Tandy and Currie each scored two goals and added one assist. Cameron Gebhardt, Cam Isaac and Spencer Bell also scored twice for RIT, while Shawn Nally and Ryan Barnable scored once and added two assists. Nick Montemorano went 20-for-34 at the faceoff dot and collected a team-high 13 ground balls, while Trevor Smyth caused a team-best three turnovers.

Saints' goalkeeper Alex Terry made 11 saves, while Walker Hare made 10 saves for the Tigers.

The Tigers held a 48-32 shot advantage including a 28-23 edge in shots on goal. RIT went 4-for-4 on man-up opportunities, while the Saints went 1-for-4.

St. Lawrence fell to 13-4 on the season, while RIT improved to 17-1 overall.

RIT will advance to play No. 12 and second-seeded Union in the championship game on Saturday, May 4, while the Saints will await the opportunity for an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament.