Heath Mann recorded a career-best 19 saves and senior
Ted Wilson recorded a hat trick, but a fourth-quarter rally powered the No. 12 and third ranked RIT Tigers to a 11-9 win over the No. 16 and second-seeded St. Lawrence University men's lacrosse team on Friday afternoon in Canton, N.Y.
Dan Anderson tallied a pair of goals, picked up two ground balls and caused two turnovers, while
Jamie Rosenzweig finished with a goal and two assists.
Daniel Mahoney notched one goal and one assist, while
Henry Crean and
Jensen Kohler also scored for the Saints.
Drew Knight picked up seven ground balls, while
Rhett Palmer had a day with four ground balls and three caused turnovers.
Rosenzweig's three points on the day pushed him to 99 career points in his sophomore campaign.Â
Wilson scored the first of his three goals to open the scoring at 13:09 of the first quarter. Anderson tallied his first, as the Saints took a 2-0 lead over the Tigers. RIT responded with three unanswered goals to take a 3-2 lead after the first 15 minutes.
St. Lawrence had a huge second quarter, scoring five straight goals to build a 7-3 lead over RIT. The Tigers added a goal with two seconds remaining in the half to make it 7-4 in favor of the Saints at the break.
RIT opened the third with a pair of goals, but the Saints responded with two of their own, maintaining a three-goal edge over the Tigers. David Charney scored with 36 seconds to play to put RIT within two heading into the final quarter.
The majority of the fourth remained scoreless with a battle of the defense on both ends of the field. The Tigers shut out the Saints in the fourth, scoring four goals in the final three minutes to claim the win and advance to the Liberty League Championship game on Sunday.
"The team left it all out there," said head coach
Mike Mahoney. "We appreciate the great crowd that supported us and hope to have another opportunity next week."
Ryan Sanders led the Tigers with four goals, while Philip Minardo won 10 faceoffs and picked up seven ground balls.
Mann made 19 stops for SLU and picked up three ground balls, while Alex Zborowski made nine saves for RIT.
RIT led in shots on goal (30-18), ground balls (31-29), and faceoffs (13-11).
The Saints will await Sunday evening's selection show to see if they'll receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
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