ROCHESTER, N.Y. – After a strong start, the #9/8 Union College men's lacrosse team came up a few goals short over the final three frames to fall by a 16-12 score to #2 Rochester Institute of Technology in both teams' regular-season finale on Saturday afternoon at Tiger Stadium.
 
Despite the loss, Union (11-4, 4-3 Liberty League) will be the fourth seed in next week's Liberty League Tournament and will host fifth-seeded Clarkson University in a first-round game on Tuesday at 4 p.m. Rochester Institute of Technology (16-1, 6-1 Liberty League) won a three-way tiebreaker for the top seed and will host the Union-Clarkson winner in the semifinals on Friday.
 
Senior Michael Shaw paced the Garnet Chargers with three goals and two assists for five points, followed by classmate Zach Davis with three goals and one helper. Classmates Peter Kip (three goals) and Jake Mabardy (two goals, one assist) also had three-point days for the visitors.
 
Senior Matthew Paolatto won 25-of-32 faceoffs (78.1 percent) and grabbed a game-high 14 ground balls, while Shaw and junior Patrick Reilly grabbed six ground balls apiece.
 
Union got off to a good start on Saturday, outshooting RIT by a 10-3 margin, winning 8-of-9 faceoffs and outscoring the Tigers 5-3 over the opening 15 minutes. Shaw had two goals and an assist in the opening frame while Kip, Mabardy and Davis scored once each, but RIT goalie Alex Zborowski made five saves to keep his team in the game.
 
The Tigers got back in the game by outscoring the Garnet Chargers 4-1 in the second stanza to take a 7-6 lead, with senior Dan Donahue making five saves to limit the damage. After RIT scored the first goal of the third quarter, Union pulled with within a goal on four different occasions, but could never get back to even. Kip made the score 12-11 with 9:47 left in the fourth quarter, but the Tigers finished the game on a 4-1 run to pull out the victory.
 
RIT had a slight 48-47 edge in shots on the day, with Zborowski's 17 saves making the difference and Donahue stopping 10 shots. Union finished the game with a 47-31 advantage in ground balls and had a decisive 25-7 edge at the faceoff spot as well.
 
Check UnionAthletics.com early next week for more information and a full preview of Tuesday's Liberty League Tournament first-round matchup.