Men's Lacrosse | 4/28/2011 11:32:49 AM

ROCHESTER, NY -- The No. 2 RIT men's lacrosse team will clash with cross-town rival Nazareth College on Saturday, April 30 at 1:05 pm in the regular season finale at RIT Field. The Tigers are 14-0 overall and are alone atop the Empire 8 standings with a 7-0 conference record. The Golden Flyers are 10-4 overall and are tied with Stevens for second place in the Empire 8 standings with a 6-1 record.

If RIT, wins they clinch the Empire 8 regular season title and home-field advantage throughout the Empire 8 Tournament. If Nazareth wins and Stevens defeats Ithaca, there will be a three-way tie atop the Empire 8 standings. The tie-breaker will be goals against between the three teams versus one another. RIT currently holds the advantage over Nazareth and Stevens in that category. Saturday's game can be seen by those in the Greater Rochester Area on Time Warner Cable Sports Network channel 26 or on high definition on channel 1026.

On Wednesday, RIT defeated Utica College 25-8. Junior attack Tyler Russell (Livonia, NY/Livonia) led a potent Tigers offense with a career-high seven goals, including three in the second quarter. Senior Kelso Davis (Freeport, ME/Deerfield Academy) dished out five
assists, and junior Jordan Collins-Hartwig (Buffalo, NY/Clarence) scored three goals. In all, 11 different Tigers scored goals and 16 had at least one point.

RIT enters Saturday's game with 22 wins in their last 23 games dating back to last season. The 14 straight wins breaks the school record that had stood since 1985, and the 14-0 start is the best start in program history.

The Tigers come into Saturday's game averaging 15.57 goals per game which is seventh in all of Division III. RIT has outscored its opponents 218-106 this season and have scored in double figures in every game. RIT's man-up unit is 27-of-71 (38.0%) on the season.

RIT features 12 players with 10 or more points, six players with 20 or more points and three players with at least 40 points on the season. Russell leads the team in scoring and goals with 52 points and 49 goals. The 49 goals place Russell tenth all-time at RIT in goals in a season. Senior midfielder Jordan MacIntosh (Oakville, ON/Holy Trinity) is second on the team with 50 points (29 g, 21 a), while Davis is third with 44 points (26g, 18a). Iric Bressler (Stafford, VA/North Stafford) is fourth with 31 points (9g, 22a), despite missing six games, while Collins-Hartwig and #A.J. Tingle# are tied for fifth with 29 points apiece.

Defensively, RIT allows just 7.57 goals per game. Senior Bob Tonnessen (Ridgefield, CT/Ridgefield) is 14-0 on the season with a 7.53 goals against average, and a .579 save percentage. His 14 wins this season places him in a tie for second all-time at RIT for wins in a season, and he is currently fifth in career wins at RIT with 29. Senior MJ Kiekebelt (Caledon, Ontario/St. Andrews College/Aurora) is one of the nation's premiere long-stick midfielders. He leads the team in caused turnovers (37), and ground balls (84), while contributing 11 points on four goals and seven assists. Eric Horeth (Webster, NY/Webster Schroeder) has been a welcome addition to the Tigers defense. He is second on the team with 17 caused turnovers and has 21 ground balls.

Nazareth comes into Saturday's game averaging 11 goals per game and has outscored its opponents 154-129. The Golden Flyers man-up unit has scored on 22-of-50 (44.0%) opportunities so far this season.

The Golden Flyers feature seven players with 10 or more points and three players with at least 30 or more points led by Senior Joe Jacobs-Ferderbar who has 44 points on 28 goals and 16 assists. Juniors Nate DeLone and C.J. Estes are tied for second in scoring with 37 points apiece, and Scott Castle is fourth
in scoring with 31 (21g, 10a) points.

Defensively, Nazareth allows 9.21 goals per game and has held their opponents to 10 goals or less in 10 of their 14 games this season. Sophomore Tim Doyle has seen the majority of the minutes in net this season for the Golden Flyers. He is 6-3 with a 9.22 goals against average and a .507 save percentage. Junior Grant Williams has played in 11 games and is 4-1 on the season with a 9.60 goals against average and a .466 save percentage. Senior Mitchel Frey leads the defensive unit with 28 caused turnovers and 49 ground balls.

RIT is 10-18 all-time versus Nazareth but have won the last two meetings. Last year, RIT defeated the Golden Flyers 13-8 at Golden Flyer Stadium in the regular season finale and 13-7 the next week in the Empire 8 Semifinals. MacIntosh had five goals and four assists, including three goals and two assists in the semis, for the Tigers, while Jacobs-Ferderbar had four goals and an assist in last year's games for Nazareth.