ROCHESTER, NY -- Senior Dan Rago (Geneva, NY/Geneva)'s fourth goal of the game, 33 seconds into overtime lifted the RIT men's lacrosse team (5-4, 3-0 Empire 8) to a dramatic, come from behind 11-10 win over previously undefeated Ithaca (8-1, 2-1 Empire 8), ranked third in the nation. RIT snapped Ithaca's 25-game winning streak in Empire 8 regular season play dating back to 2004.

The Tigers came back from a pair of two-goal deficits in the fourth quarter. Sean Gillies (Oakville, Ontario/Albany Academy), who was held scoreless through the first three quarters, tallied his second goal of the game with three seconds left in regulation to force overtime. Andrew Ruocco (Corning, NY/Corning East) fed Gillies at the side of the Ithaca net and the second-year forward redirected the pass in for his team-high 20th goal of the season.

RIT trailed 9-7 with 2:19 left in regulation before Gillies tallied a man-up goal. Just 15 seconds later, Iric Bressler (Stafford, VA/North Stafford) took a feed from Phil Davenport (New Market, MD/Linganore) on a fast break off the ensuing face-off and scored to tie the game at 9.

Ithaca came right back, as Neth Wiedemann took a feed from Logan Bobzien in front of the Tiger net and scored with 1:36 to take a 10-9 lead.

The Tigers out-shot Ithaca 48-33. They held a 31-14 shot advantage in the second half and overtime. RIT won the ground ball battle, 50-39 and won 15-of-24 face-offs.

The game was tied at 5 after 30 minutes of play. RIT held a 5-3 lead in the second quarter, but Ithaca scored four straight, including three from Craig LePiane to go up 7-5 midway through the third quarter.

Rago tallied four goals to lead RIT, while Gillies had two goals and two assists. Ruocco had a pair of goals and an assist. Bressler had a goal and an assist, while Chris Cherami (Olwick, NJ/Seton Hall Prep) and Billy Walton (Syracuse, NY/Nottingham) also scored. Cherami also chipped in with six ground balls.

LePiane led Ithaca with four tallies, while Bobzien had a goal and three assists. Alec Siefert scored two times, while Matt Nelligan and Kevin Bush also scored.

Senior Jacob Brunner (Lafayette, NY/Lafayatte) was tremendous for RIT, winning 15-of-24 face-offs to go along with nine ground balls.

Brad Conlon (Ottawa, Ontario/Bridgton Academy) started in net and made 11 saves to pick up the win. Ben Connery stopped 21 shots in defeat for Ithaca.

RIT's defense, led by Nick Dalton (Webster, NY/Webster Thomas), Rob Mizelle (Pittsford, NY/Pittsford Sutherland), Davenport and M.J. Kiekebelt (Orangeville, Ontario/St. Andrews) forced 10 Ithaca turnovers. Ithaca turned the ball over 27 times on the day. Dalton caused four turnovers.

Ithaca leads the all-time series 24-15. The Tigers are back in action on Wednesday at Empire 8 foe St. John Fisher. The contest begins at 4:00 p.m.

Score by Period       1  2  3  4 OT  Tot
----------------------------------------
Ithaca..............  3  2  2  3  0 - 10
RIT.................  3  2  1  4  1 - 11
 
Attendance: 300
 
Ithaca SCORING:
GOALS: Craig LePIANE 4; Alec SIEFERT 2; Logan BOBZIEN 1; Matt NELLIGAN 1;
       Kevin BUSH 1; Neth WIEDEMANN 1.
ASSISTS: Logan BOBZIEN 3; Tim PFEFFER 2; Nic HECKMAN 1; Craig LePIANE 1;
         Alec SIEFERT 1.
 
RIT SCORING:
GOALS: Dan Rago 4; Sean Gillies 2; Andrew Ruocco 2; Iric Bressler 1;
       Chris Cherami 1; Billy Walton 1.
ASSISTS: David Burke 2; Sean Gillies 2; Iric Bressler 1; Phil Davenport 1;
         Andrew Ruocco 1; Adam Vlassis 1.
 
SHOTS BY PERIOD       1  2  3  4 OT  Tot
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Ithaca.............. 10  9  6  8  0 - 33
RIT.................  8  9 16 14  1 - 48
 
GROUND BALLS BY PRD   1  2  3  4 OT  Tot
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Ithaca.............. 10 11  7 11  0 - 39
RIT................. 12  9 11 17  1 - 50
 
FACE-OFFS BY PRD       1     2     3     4     OT    Total
----------------------------------------------------------
Ithaca..............  3-7   2-5   3-4   1-7   0-1  -  9-24
RIT.................  4-7   3-5   1-4   6-7   1-1  - 15-24
 
CLEARS BY PERIOD       1     2     3     4     OT    Total
----------------------------------------------------------
Ithaca..............  7-8   3-5   4-4   6-8   0-0  - 20-25
RIT.................  4-6   2-5   3-5   5-5   0-0  - 14-21
 
EXTRA-MAN OPPS         1     2     3     4     OT    Total
----------------------------------------------------------
Ithaca..............  1-2   0-4   0-1   0-1   0-0  -  1-8
RIT.................  0-0   1-3   1-2   1-2   0-0  -  3-7
 
SAVES BY PERIOD       1  2  3  4 OT  Tot
----------------------------------------
Ithaca..............  5  5  6  5  0 - 21
RIT.................  3  2  4  2  0 - 11
 
TURNOVERS BY PRD      1  2  3  4 OT  Tot
----------------------------------------
Ithaca..............  7  8  4  8  0 - 27
RIT.................  4  5  3  7  0 - 19
 
PENALTIES - Ithaca 7/6:30; RIT 8/5:30.
 
SCORING SUMMARY:
    Prd  Time Team Type Goal Scorer          Assists           H-V
------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. 1st 14:45 RIT  EVEN Chris Cherami (3)... Unassisted......  1-0
 2.     11:01 IC   EVEN Alec SIEFERT (17)... Logan BOBZIEN...  1-1
 3.      7:13 RIT  EVEN Billy Walton (3).... Sean Gillies....  2-1
 4.      1:49 IC   EVEN Matt NELLIGAN (28).. Alec SIEFERT....  2-2
 5.      1:18 IC   UP   Craig LePIANE (13).. Nic HECKMAN.....  2-3
 6.      0:07 RIT  EVEN Andrew Ruocco (14).. Adam Vlassis....  3-3
 7. 2nd 14:16 RIT  EVEN Dan Rago (13)....... David Burke.....  4-3
 8.     13:15 RIT  UP   Dan Rago (14)....... Sean Gillies....  5-3
 9.     10:16 IC   EVEN Craig LePIANE (14).. Unassisted......  5-4
10.      9:18 IC   EVEN Craig LePIANE (29).. Tim PFEFFER.....  5-5
11. 3rd 10:13 IC   EVEN Logan BOBZIEN (15).. Craig LePIANE...  5-6
12.      7:38 IC   EVEN Craig LePIANE (30).. Tim PFEFFER.....  5-7
13.      5:37 RIT  UP   Andrew Ruocco (15).. Unassisted......  6-7
14. 4th 12:56 IC   EVEN Kevin BUSH (11)..... Unassisted......  6-8
15.      6:49 RIT  EVEN Dan Rago (15)....... Unassisted......  7-8
16.      5:42 IC   EVEN Alec SIEFERT (18)... Logan BOBZIEN...  7-9
17.      2:17 RIT  UP   Sean Gillies (19)... Iric Bressler...  8-9
18.      2:02 RIT  EVEN Iric Bressler (7)... Phil Davenport..  9-9
19.      1:36 IC   EVEN Neth WIEDEMANN (2).. Logan BOBZIEN...  9-10
20.      0:03 RIT  EVEN Sean Gillies (20)... Andrew Ruocco... 10-10
21. OT   3:27 RIT  EVEN Dan Rago (16)....... David Burke..... 11-10

2008-03-29