CORTLAND, NY – The Cortland men's lacrosse team scored the final four goals of the contest, but the nationally 17th-ranked Red Dragons saw their comeback bid fall just short in a 12-10 loss to nationally third-ranked R.I.T. on Wednesday evening on Grady Field. Cortland had its seven-game winning streak snapped and falls to 7-2 on the year, while R.I.T. improves to 10-1 on the season.
 
Sam Rothman (Dix Hills/Half Hollow Hills East) led Cortland with three goals and an assist, while Frank Neeson (Orchard Park) and Caden Yancey (Fayetteville/Fayetteville-Manlius) provided a goal and two assists apiece. Klay Stuver (Fairport) netted two goals for the Red Dragons.
 
Alex Thrasher (Vestal) had three caused turnovers and scooped up six ground balls, while Travis Wagner (Penfield) made 14 saves in goal.
 
Nate Senez scored twice and added three assists for the Tigers, while Ethan Harkins netted four goals. R.I.T. goalkeeper Alex Zborowski made eight saves for the victory.
 
R.I.T. needed just 51 seconds to open the scoring in the contest, but the Red Dragons quickly responded with goals by Sean Kavanagh (North Canton, OH/Hoover) and Stuver to take a 2-1 lead with 10:28 left in the quarter. Yancey provided an assist on Kavanagh's goal, while Caden Morra (Farmingdale/Plainedge) assisted on Stuver's tally.
 
The Tigers netted two goals in a row to re-gain the lead at the midway point of the period, before Rothman's goal, a man-up tally, off a feed from Neeson tied the score at 3-3 with 5:48 remaining in the frame.
 
R.I.T. scored two straight goals to end the quarter with a 5-3 lead.
 
Stuver netted his second goal of the game off an assist from Rothman early in the second quarter to reduce the deficit to one, but the Tigers scored the final four goals of the half to lead 9-4 at halftime.
R.I.T. scored two goals in the opening minutes of the third quarter to go up 11-4 with 11:56 remaining. Rothman scored off an assist from Yancey, and Nicky Miltenberger (Ridge/Longwood) won the ensuing faceoff and sprinted down the field to net his first goal of the season and pull Cortland to within five at 11-6.
 
The Tigers netted one goal with 4:27 left in the third quarter to lead 12-6 into the fourth quarter.
 
Cortland held the Tigers off the board for the remainder of the contest, and scored four times in the fourth quarter to get to within two. Yancey scored off a feed from Liam Burns (Warners/West Genesee) with 12 minutes remaining, and Neeson found the back of the net after picking up his own rebound to make it 12-8. Ryan Scanlon (Cornelius, NC/William Amos Hough) and Rothman netted goals to make it 12-10 with 4:08 left in the contest.
 
The Red Dragons were unable to close the gap over the final minutes as R.I.T. secured the victory by picking up a pair of Cortland turnovers.