Men's Lacrosse holds off St. John Fisher, 17-13, in NCAA Third Round

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – RIT senior attackman Clifford Gaston scored six goals and an assist while junior Chase Bruno scored four goals as the Tigers defeated St. John Fisher, 17-13, in the third round of the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Tournament. RIT advances to the quarterfinals for the eighth straight season and 17th time overall.
 
Graduate student midfielder Ian Dinga had four assists, junior attackman Ethan Harkins had two goals and two assists and first year midfielder Ryan Bullock had a goal and two assists. Senior attackman Nate Senez had a goal and an assist and fifth-year Michael Finneran, sophomore midfielder David Charney and graduate student Seth Grottenthaler each scored a goal.
 
Gaston and fifth-year defenseman Jamie Hunt each caused two turnovers. Fifth-year faceoff specialist Allyn French won a career-high 24 faceoffs and led the Tigers with nine ground balls. Junior goalie Alex Zborowski made 12 saves in net to improve to 20-1 on the season.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Harkins scored off an assist from Gaston early in the first quarter to give RIT the lead.
• St. John Fisher goalie Tyler Manning scored a man-down goal from half-field to tie the score at 1-1.
• RIT ran off three straight goals, taking a 4-1 lead on Bruno's second goal of the quarter with 3:25 remaining in the opening frame.
• Timmy Salit cut RIT's lead to 4-2 on his goal with 1:19 to play in the first and scored the first goal of the second quarter to make it a one-goal game.
• Senez and Gaston scored back-to-back goals, taking a 6-3 lead on Gaston's goal off an assist from Dinga with 9:03 to play in the second quarter.
• Sean Donaldson scored with 4:15 remaining to cut the Cardinal's deficit to 6-4.
• Finneran gave the Tigers a 7-4 lead and Donalson scored his second goal of the quarter to cut RIT's lead to 7-5.
• Charney scored off an assist from Dinga followed by a goal from Grottenthaler with two seconds remaining to give RIT a 9-5 halftime lead.
• JP Revitte scored 29 seconds into the third quarter to cut the Tiger's lead to 9-6.
• Gaston scored on RIT's ensuing possession to give RIT a 10-6 lead.
• Brady Mason tallied a man-up goal cut RIT's lead to 10-7.
• Gaston scored with 8:19 remaining to give the Tigers an 11-7 lead.
• Ethan Kesselring made it 11-8 on his goal midway through the third period.
• Gaston scored his second goal of the third quarter with 6:33 to play to give RIT a 12-8 lead.
• St. John Fisher ran off four straight goals, tying the score at 12-12 on Colin Blakeslee's goal with 10 seconds to play in the frame.
• Bullock broke the tie with his goal 44 seconds into the fourth quarter.
• Bruno scored to give RIT a 14-12 lead and Harkins and Gaston each scored man-up goals to extend the Tiger's lead to 16-12 with 9:13 to play.
• Kesselring scored to make it 16-13 and Bruno scored with 5:34 remaining to make it a 17-13 final.

 
GAME NOTES:

• RIT outshot St. John Fisher, 49-37
• The Tigers were 24-of-25 on clearing attempts.
• RIT went 25-of-34 on face offs and had 52 ground balls
• The Tigers are making their 26th appearance in the NCAA Tournament, including 15 straight seasons.

 
WHAT'S NEXT:
RIT will host Cortland in next Saturday's NCAA Quarterfinals; winner will face either RPI or Dickinson in Sunday's semifinals with a berth in the national championship on the line. Stay tuned to ritathletics.com for times.