SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The No. 14 Union College men's lacrosse team held an 8-5 lead on the top-ranked team in the country midway through the third quarter, but No. 1 Rochester Institute of Technology rattled off six straight goals to take the lead back for good as the Tigers escaped Frank Bailey Field at Bertagna-Class of 1985 Stadium with a 12-10 victory in a Liberty League battle on Saturday afternoon.
 
Senior Hayden Frey had a huge game for Union (5-2, 4-2 Liberty League), leading all players with four goals and six points on the day. Junior Peter Burnes also had four points with a pair of goals and two assists, while senior Aidan Flood added a goal and two helpers.
 
Dawson Tait led RIT (8-0, 4-0 Liberty League) with three goals, while Quinn Commandant added a goal and two assists.
 
Frey got Union on the board first 2:24 into the contest with his 12th of the year, but penalties haunted Union early on as three infractions led to a pair of man-up goals that gave RIT a 2-1 lead midway through the quarter. Tait scored his second of the game to put the visitors up by a pair, but Burnes scored off a nice feed from junior Brian Davis to get the Dutchmen back within a goal after 15 minutes.
 
The Dutchmen continued to control play at even strength in the second stanza, getting one goal from first-year Peter Kip and two in two minutes from Frey to take back the lead at 5-3 with 8:21 left. However another penalty led to another man-up goal from Commandant, and Matt Weichers followed up less than a minute later to even the score at the half.
 
The game was even thanks in large part to the superb play of first-year netminder Dan Donahue, who made 10 saves over the opening 30 minutes and allowed only two even-strength goals to the Tigers.
 
Union came out firing in the third quarter, posting a 13-5 edge in shots and scoring the first three goals to open up its largest lead of the game. Burnes scored from Flood 2:35 into the game and then assisted junior Keaton McCann's 24th of the year less than two minutes later, and that was followed by a Flood tally that put Union up 8-5 with 7:14 left in the third.
 
But the game changed dramatically after that, as the Dutchmen went over 18 minutes without finding the net and allowed six straight goals. After taking care of the ball so well early on, Union turned it over five times and had all four on-target shots saved by Walker Hare during the run, which was capped by a Nick Montemorano faceoff win and goal with 4:11 left.
 
The home team did not go quietly, however, as Union won the subsequent faceoff and Frey scored just nine seconds later. That was followed by another faceoff win and a Davis goal that energized the crowd and got Union back within one with 3:21 to go. But the Dutchmen turned the ball over on their next possession and RIT capitalized with a Ryan Rosenblum goal in the final 90 seconds to seal the win.
 
Donahue had an excellent game between the pipes for Union, finishing with 15 saves, while Hare made nine saves for RIT. The Tigers finished with a slight 42-35 edge in shots and capitalized on 3-of-7 man-up chances, while Union was 0-for-2.
 
Union currently sits in third place in the conference standings with one game left on the conference schedule. If Ithaca College defeats Vassar College tomorrow, the Dutchmen will fall to the fourth seed in next week's Liberty League Tournament and will travel to RIT for the semifinals on Wednesday afternoon.