SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The third-seeded and #17 Union College men's lacrosse team will make the familiar trip to Rochester to battle for a Liberty League Tournament championship on Sunday, taking on top-seeded and #3 Rochester Institute of Technology at noon at the RIT Turf Field.
 
GAME DETAILS: 12:00 p.m. – RIT Turf Field. Admission to the game is free.
 
LIVE COVERAGE: For those that can't make it to Rochester for the game, RIT will provide a live video stream of the game and live stats will also be available. Fans can also get live in-game updates by following Union Men's Lacrosse on Twitter.
 
THE TEAMS: Union (11-5, 4-3 Liberty League) is seeded third in the tournament and went on the road to knock off second-seeded Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the semifinals on Friday. Top-seeded RIT (17-1, 7-0 Liberty League) defeated fifth-seeded and #15/11 St. Lawrence University by a 19-9 score in Friday's other semifinal.
 
POSTSEASON HISTORY: Union is making its seventh appearance (2008, 2011-12, 2014-15, 2019, 2023) in the conference championship game and is 8-12 all-time in Liberty League Tournament play, including one conference tournament title in 2011. Union and RIT have met seven previous times in the conference tournament, including four championship games; the Tigers are 7-0 in those contests.

LAST MEETING: As is customary between these teams, the regular-season meeting was a close contest, with the Tigers earning a 13-10 win in Schenectady on April 8. RIT scored seven straight goals in the first and second quarters to build up an 8-3 lead and held on for the victory. Junior Zach Davis recorded a game-high three goals and four points for the home team in a losing effort, while junior Dan Donahue made 15 saves.
 
LAST TIME OUT: Union earned its first Liberty League Tournament win since 2019 with a 13-10 win at Rensselaer on Friday. Junior Dan Donahue was huge in net for the visitors with 21 saves, while classmate Peter Kip recorded a career-high five points with three goals and two assists. Fellow junior Matthew Paolatto also chipped in with 15 faceoff wins, 11 ground balls and a career-high two goals.
 
UNION IN THE POLLS: Union has been ranked in every national poll this season, having been ranked as high as fifth in both the USILA and Inside Lacrosse rankings. Union has been nationally ranked by the USILA in every week during the four-year tenure of head coach Derek Witheford '11 and every week overall since April 12, 2019. Only six teams (Cabrini, Gettysburg, RIT, Salisbury, Tufts and York) have a longer current stretch of consecutive national rankings than Union.
   
X MARKS THE SPOT: Junior Matthew Paolatto won 15-of-28 draws on Friday at RPI and has been one of the nation's top faceoff men all season long, currently leading the Liberty League and ranking 15th in Division III by winning 67.4 percent (211 of 313) of his draws. He also ranks third in the Liberty League in ground balls (130) and 42nd in Division III in ground balls per game (8.12). Combined with sophomore Luke McHugh (30 of 56) and first-year Luke Tranter (5 of 7), Union sits 10th in the country with a 65.4 percent success rate at the X.
 
SAVING THE DAY: Junior goalie Dan Donahue posted his third 20-plus game of the season for Union on Friday and has continued to be one of the nation's top goalies this season. The netminder leads the Liberty League and ranks 10th in Division III in save percentage (.620), and also leads the conference in saves per game (14.33). In addition, the junior ranks second in the conference and 22nd in the nation in goals against average (8.77).
 
BIG FUNDAMENTALS: With multiple injuries affecting the team's offensive consistency, Union has once again relied on its defense. Union leads the Liberty League and ranks 29th in Division III by allowing 8.81 goals per game. The team also is at its best when it keeps care of the ball, as the squad leads the conference and ranks 17th in the nation by averaging only 16.6 turnovers per game.

ABOUT THE TIGERS: RIT topped the conference regular-season ledger for the 11th straight season this year and is bidding for its 11th straight Liberty League Tournament title since joining the league in 2011. The Tigers boast the 23rd-ranked scoring offense in Division III, averaging 16.39 goals per game. The team is paced by the conference-best 50 goals and 75 points of Luke Pilcher, while Clifford Gaston scored six times in the conference semifinals and averages over 3.0 goals per outing this year. Thanks in part to Pilcher's 10 man-up goals, RIT is third in the nation in man-up offense, scoring on 55.6 percent (30 of 54) of its opportunities. At the other end of the field, Will Sterrett has received the majority of starts this season in goal, posting an 8.62 goals against average and .551 save percentage to go with a 10-0 record. As usual, the Tigers are also very efficient in transition, ranking fourth in the country by successfully clearing at a 90.9 percent rate.
 
WHAT'S NEXT: The winner of Sunday's game earns the Liberty League's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament, while the loser will hope for an at-large selection. The NCAA Division III Tournament field will be announced on Sunday at 9 p.m. on NCAA.com.