ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The #12 Union College men's lacrosse team held an early lead over #1 Rochester Institute of Technology, but the top-seeded Tigers pulled away in the second half to deal the second-seeded Dutchmen a 14-6 defeat in the championship game of the 2019 Liberty League Tournament on Saturday afternoon at the RIT Turf Field.
RIT (18-1) captures its eighth straight conference championship with the win and earns the conference's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament. Union (13-3) will need to wait until Sunday, when the Dutchmen hope to receive an at-large berth to the NCAAs. The NCAA Div. III Men's Lacrosse Selection Show will air Sunday at 9 p.m. on NCAA.com
Six different players had a goal apiece for Union, with sophomore
Keaton McCann adding an assist to match junior
Kerry Lyne (two assists) with a team-leading two points.
Union started the game strong, scoring three of the first four goals to take an early lead. Sophomore
Aidan Flood scored on the first possession off a McCann feed just 44 seconds into the game, and the lead held until an RIT goal with 8:59 left. But sophomore
Kieran McGovern took a nice feed from Lyne to regain the lead with 5:48 on the clock, and the defense held up to put the Dutchmen up 2-1 after 15 minutes.
Senior
Jack Sullivan gave the Dutchmen a two-goal lead early in the second quarter, but that was followed by a string of four straight Tiger goals that allowed the home team to take a 5-3 lead into halftime.
Two more RIT goals to start the third quarter built up a four-goal edge before sophomore
Hayden Frey stopped the bleeding temporarily, but two more goals made the score 9-4 in favor of RIT headed to the fourth. McCann and junior
Jack Kaufman both found the net in the fourth quarter, but it was not enough to stem the RIT tide.
The stats were relatively even on the afternoon, with RIT holding a slight 45-42 edge in shots and a 11-10 advantage on faceoffs. Senior
Jack Santilli ended the afternoon with 11 saves, while junior
Graham Goldheim made two saves over the final 7:11.
