Ithaca and RIT Advance to Empire 8 Men's Lacrosse Championship Final
April 25, 2008
Top-seeded Ithaca College and third-seeded Rochester Institute of Technology will meet in the Empire 8 Men's Lacrosse Championship final on Sunday at 1 p.m. The Bombers defeated St. John Fisher College 17-9 and the Tigers defeated Stevens Institute of Technology 9-6.
No. 1 Ithaca 17, No. 4 St. John Fisher 9
From Ithaca College Sports Information Release
ITHACA, N.Y. - The top-seeded men’s lacrosse team (14-2) routed fourth-seeded St. John Fisher 17-9 in an Empire 8 Semifinal Friday. The Bombers will host the Empire 8 Championship game Sunday at 1 p.m.
Senior Craig Lepiane (West Irondequoit/Rochester) led the Bomber offense, tying a career-high with five goals and six points. Classmates Logan Bobzien (Arapahoe/Centennial, Colo.), Matt Nelligan (Pingree School/Rowley, Mass.), and Kevin Bush (Arapahoe [Colo.]/St. George Island, Fla.) each tallied two goals for the Bombers.
Ithaca opened the game with six straight goals in the first six minutes of the contest. Heckman started the scoring for the Bombers, and Ithaca stretched the lead to 7-2 at the half. The Bombers scored ten of the next 17 goals for their 14th win of the season.
The Bombers outshot St. John Fisher 47-19, and dominated face-offs, winning 20-of-29. Freshman Michael Hennessy (Owen J. Roberts/Spring City) won 13-of-17 face-offs against Dave Wood of St. John Fisher, who is ranked first in the NCAA in face-off win percentage. Hennessy opened the game with six straight face-off wins against Wood.
Sophomore Nic Heckman (Sparta/Sparta, N.J.) also added two goals, and junior Mike Giunta (B. Reed Henderson/West Chester, Pa.) tied a career-high with two goals and an assist. Juniors Alec Siefert (Duxbury/Duxbury, Mass.) and Matt Cutter (Needham/Needham, Mass.) each also added a goal for Ithaca.
Goalie Ben Connery (Homer/Homer) made three saves for his eighth win of the season.
No. 3 RIT 9, No. 2 Stevens 6
From RIT Sports Information Release
HOBOKEN, NJ -- The RIT (10-6) men's lacrosse team defeated Stevens 9-6 in the semi finals of the Empire 8 men's lacrosse tournament on Friday evening. The Tigers will face Ithaca College in the Empire 8 finals on Sunday afternoon at 1 pm in Ithaca, New York. Senior midfielder Andrew Ruocco (Corning, NY/Corning East) led RIT, scoring five of the the Tiger's nine goals.
It was a closely fought first quarter with just three goals being scored. Ruocco gave RIT a 1-0 lead on an unassisted goal at 11:58 of the first.
The Ducks grabbed the momentum when they killed off a RIT two-man advantage, taking a 2-1 lead on a man-down goal by Frank Sorrentino with 1:08 remaining in the first quarter.
The Tigers grabbed the momentum back when Stevens starting goalie Dave Decker left the game with an injury to start the second. RIT took advantage, tallying four straight goals in the second quarter, leading 5-2 at the half.
Ruocco had two of RIT's five goals, one unassisted, one coming on an assist from Iric Bressler (Stafford, VA/N. Stafford). Wes Adam (Lafayette, NY) and Bressler also tallied for the Tigers.
Both teams exchanged goals in the third quarter. The Ducks made it 5-3 at 3:42 of the quarter. Ruocco scored his fourth goal of the contest, giving RIT a 6-3 lead with 32 seconds remaining in the quarter on an assist from Bressler.
The Tigers kept the momentum going into the fourth quarter, tallying three straight goals. Adam Vlassis (Syracuse, NY/East Syracuse-Minoa) tallied an unassisted goal at 14:20, giving the Tigers a 7-3 lead.
Ruocco scored his fifth on an assist from Vlassis with 9:11 remaining in game, making it 8-3 RIT.
Bressler rounded out the scoring for the Tigers with 6:24 remaining, giving the Tigers a 9-3 lead.
The Ducks would not go quietly scoring three straight goals late in the game to cut RIT's lead to 9-6. However, it was too little too late as RIT was able to run out the clock for their 10th win of the season and a berth in the title game.
RIT outshot Stevens 40-36 and won the ground ball battle, 31-25. The Tigers won 12-of-18 face-offs and went 3-for-5 on man-up.
RIT's defense was outstanding, holding Stevens to six goals and forcing the Ducks into 23 turnovers. The Tigers held Stevens scoreless on all four of their man-up opportunities.
Brad Conlon (Ottawa, ON/Bridgton Academy) was sharp, making 10 stops and allowing just six goals. It's the sixth straight game the Tigers have allowed less than 10 goals.
Jacob Brunner (Lafayette, NY) was excellent from the face-off "X", winning 12-of-18 and grabbing five ground balls.
Phil Davenport (New Market, MD/Linganore) was unstoppable on defense, grabbing a team-high six ground balls and causing four turnovers.