Men's Lacrosse | 5/8/2016 4:27:00 PM
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ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Top-seeded Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) defeated third-seeded Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) 15-5 on Sunday afternoon in the Liberty League Men's Lacrosse Championship, giving the Tigers their fifth straight league title. Senior long-stick midfielder Matt Hossack was named Tournament Most Valuable Player after tallying six points on two goals and four assists, grabbing 18 ground balls, and causing four turnovers in two tournament games this weekend.
The Tigers (17-1), ranked No. 2 in Division III, qualify for their seventh straight NCAA Tournament, while the 15th-ranked Engineers (13-4) are hopeful of receiving an at-larger berth. The field will be announced at 9pm on Sunday. Fans can view the selection show online.
RIT held a 39-33 shot advantage, and won the ground ball battle, 42-23. The Tigers won 13-of-23 face-offs and went 18-of-21 on clearing attempts. RPI was 12-of-18 on clears.
Freshman
JT Kelly led Rensselaer with two goals, while
Jake Weidner and
Matt Hall each scored a goal.
John Phillips led RPI with four ground balls, while
Blake Frasca caused five turnovers.
David Gibbs took the loss in net, making 10 saves.
Chad Levick, Kyle Sterzin, and Ryan Lee led the Tigers offense, combining for 20 points. Levick tallied a career-high seven goals to go along with an assist, while Sterzin finished with six points on three goals and three assists. Ryan Lee tallied a goal and dished out a career-high five assists. Hossack led RIT with nine ground balls, while. Nick Nesbitt improved to 9-0 on the season in net for RIT, making seven saves.
RIT led 5-1 after the first quarter, and 10-2 at halftime. The Tigers scored two more goals in the third quarter, and three in the fourth. RIT's defense held the Engineers to three goals in the second half.
Kelly gave RPI an early lead when he scored a man-up goal off an assist from
Matt Hall at the 12:25 mark of the opening quarter. RIT scored the next five goals with Sterzin scoring the first two goals and a third later in the quarter. Levick and Sulesky also scored.
RIT kept the momentum going into the second quarter, tallying four straight goals. Lee tallied his 59th of the season off LoBosco to make it 6-1 RIT at the 12:57 mark of the quarter. Levick tallied his second of the game off an assist from Sterzin to make it 7-1. Wallace and Shuster tacked on goals to give the Tigers a 9-1 lead.
Weidner broke the run with his unassisted goal with 2:27 to play in the half to cut into RIT's lead, but Levick tacked on a late goal before halftime.
Levick opened the second-half scoring with two straight goals before RPI's
Quinn Fettig scored with 37 seconds to play in the third frame. Hall opened the fourth with his 31st goal of the year - a man-up marker - but Levick added two more goals. Kelly made it 14-5 at 10:31 off a feed from Weidner.
