Men's Lacrosse | 3/28/2012 6:08:00 PM

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ROCHESTER, NY -- In a battle between two top-five and unbeaten teams, the No. 2 SUNY Cortland (7-0) Red Dragons came to RIT Field, edging No. 4 RIT (5-1) 8-7 in non-league action on a blustery Wednesday afternoon. The loss is the first regular season loss by the Tigers since April of 2010, snapping a string of 24 straight wins.

Senior Tyler Russell (Livonia, NY/Livonia) led RIT with four goals. Brendan MacDonald (Georgetown, Ontario/Trinity-Pawling) added three goals for the Tigers, while #A.J. Tingle# dished out a pair of assists.

Mike Tota led Cortland with four points on three goals and an assist. Greg Wright added two goals and two assists, while Cody Consul had two goals and dished out an assist.

Both teams were 16-of-18 on clearing attemtps as Cortland held a 38-27 edge on shots. RIT had 37 ground balls to 36 for the Red Dragons. The Tigers committed 12 turnovers to 10 for Cortland.

The story of the day was goaltending. RIT goalie Anthony DeLeo (Canandaigua, NY/Canandaigua Academy) was outstanding in net for the Tigers, allowing just eight goals and making 13 saves. Mike Kaminski was equally as good for the Red Dragons, allowing just seven goals and making 12 saves, including a handful in the final two minutes with Cortland nursing a one-goal edge.

RIT went 3-for-3 on man-up, while Cortland was 0-for-6 with the man advantage. The Tiger dominated face-offs winning 13-of-19. Tyler Brooks-Lambert (Seneca Castle, NY/Midlakes) went 8-for-11 for RIT, while #P.J. Hart# was 5-of-8.

Cortland came out firing, scoring the first three goals of the game, taking a 3-0 lead with 8:43 to play in the first quarter on a goal by Consul.

RIT's MacDonald bulled his way to the goal, firing a shot past Kaminski, getting RIT on the board with 7:46 to play in the opening quarter.

Russell scored a man-up goal with 6:59 to play in the first off an assist from Tingle, cutting the Red Dragons lead to 3-2.

Wright scored for the Red Dragons on an unassisted tally with 2:20 to play in the first to give Cortland a 4-2 lead. Tota then made it 5-2 Red Dragons with 11:23 to play in the second quarter, tallying his second of the game off an assist from Zack Mulvaney.

Russell and MacDonald struck again late in the second quarter to give RIT a little momentum and cutting Cortland's lead down to one at 5-4.

Consul converted a fast-break by the Red Dragons with 15 seconds to play in the half to give Cortland a 6-4 lead at the break.

MacDonald opened the second-half scoring with 10:59 to play in the third quarter, tallying his third of the game to make a one goal lead for the Red Dragons.

Goals by Nick Wolak and Tota gave Cortland an 8-5 lead with 4:11 to play in the third quarter.

RIT, however, would fight back. Russell cut the Cortland lead to 8-6 with :59 to play in the third, tallying his third of the game off an assist from Alex Crepinsek (Oakville, Ontario/St. Thomas Aquinas).

The lone goal in the fourth quarter came with three minutes to play when Russell tallied his fourth off an assist from Allister Warren (Toronto, Ontario/Malvern Collegiate Institute) to make it an 8-7 game.

With less than a minute to play, RIT defenseman Eric Horeth (Webster, NY/Webster Schroeder) forced Cortland's Joe Slavik into a turnover. Horeth scooped up the ground ball and cleared into the Cortland end of the field.

After a RIT timeout, MacDonald drove the net, but Cortland's Doug Meehan forced the turnover, squashing any chances for the Tigers.

RIT returns to action on Saturday, March 31 when the Tigers travel to SUNY Geneseo to face the Knights at 1 p.m. in Geneseo, New York.