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TROY, N.Y. - Junior Shawn Nally had three goals and four assists and five teammates also registered multiple goals as the top-ranked RIT men's lacrosse team held off No. 20 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), 18-11, in a Liberty League contest at East Campus Stadium. The Tigers are now 12-0 overall and 4-0 in the conference, holding sole possession of first place. The Engineers saw their eight-game winning streak ended and drop to 8-2. The loss was their first in league play and they now stand at 3-1.

RIT jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first 8:20 and a 5-1 margin after the first quarter and never trailed. Five different players had goals in the first frame with Nally picking up his first point with an assist on the Tigers' four goal, which was scored by Aidan Milburn and gave the visitors a 4-1 lead. Milburn's tally, his 19th of the year, came just 1:11 after Rensselaer's JT Kelly picked up a loose ball in the offensive zone and fed Lucas Bastarache, who notched his ninth of the year.

RPI pulled to within two goals at start the second quarter with an even strength goal from Zach Lukas and a man-up goal from Cliff Kigar, but RIT answered the latter off the faceoff when Nate Farrell fed Kyle Killen seven seconds after Kigar's goal. The goal was the 39th of the season for Killen, who later tallied the last two of the contest. Lukas, who had three goals and an assist to lead the Engineers, made it 6-4 at 6:59, but RIT later scored twice within 12 seconds and led 8-4 at halftime.

Quinn Commandant and Jay Vakiener opened the second half with goals to put the Tigers ahead by six, 10-4, but Rensselaer scored two of the next three and trailed 11-6 with 2:25 to play in the third quarter. Milburn and Nally countered for a 13-6 RIT lead after three.

Consecutive goals by freshman Ryan Cole and another Bastarache tally - all in a 54 second span - pulled Rensselaer to within 13-9 with 11:19 to play, but RIT scored the next two and five of the final seven goals for the final margin.

In addition to Nally and Killen, who also had an assist, Vakiener had three goals, Ryan Tandy scored twice and Milburn had two goals. Tandy led the Tigers in shots with eight and Trevor Smyth had eight ground balls. Jimmy Spillane won 5 of 7 faceoffs and Walker Hare made 10 saves.

For RPI, Parker Smith had 14 saves with five ground balls. Bastarache, who scored twice, also picked up five balls, while Lukas had a team-high seven shots. Cole had two goals and an assist, Kigar had a goal and two assists and Kelly scored once and set up another.

RIT held a slight edge in shots, 46-40, while picking up 20 more ground balls (60-40). The Tigers were 3 of 3 on man-up opportunities, while Rensselaer was 2 of 6. 

The Engineers return to action on Wednesday when they host Vassar College in a conference contest at 6pm. RIT plays at No. 18 Ithaca College on Wednesday at 4pm.