ROCHESTER, NY – The Cortland men's lacrosse team dropped a non-conference contest at nationally seventh-ranked RIT by a 15-9 final score on Wednesday evening. RIT improves to 9-2 on the year, while Cortland is now 4-5 with its third straight defeat.
 
Stefan Swedlund (Randolph, NJ) led the way offensively for the Red Dragons with five goals, while James Violi (East Islip) had a goal and an assist and Sean Kavanagh (North Canton, OH/Hoover) contributed two assists.
 
Charlie Falowski (Redding, CT/Joel Barlow) registered 17 saves in goal for Cortland. Dino Bowen (Yorktown) had two caused turnovers and scooped up four ground balls, while Jack Skarren (Long Beach) had three ground balls and two caused turnovers.
 
David Charney scored four times to guide RIT, while Erich Acton contributed three goals and an assist. Alex Zborowski made 11 saves in goal for the Tigers, and Logan Fletcher caused four turnovers and scooped up five ground balls.  
 
The Tigers had a 32-20 advantage in shots on goal over the Red Dragons, due in large part to a massive 54-30 edge in ground balls. RIT also committed six penalties in the game compared to zero for the Red Dragons, but Cortland was 0-for-6 on extra-man opportunities.
 
RIT started fast in the opening quarter, outscoring Cortland by a 7-1 margin in the first frame. After three goals in the first six minutes gave RIT a 3-0 lead, Swedlund tallied the first Cortland goal off an assist from Kavanagh. RIT then scored four goals in a span of less than four minutes to lead by six after one quarter.
 
Each team scored once in the first three minutes of the second quarter, with Cortland's goal coming from Violi. The teams then played over 11 minutes of scoreless action, before RIT's Brayden Kuczma scored with 1:12 remaining to give the Tigers a 9-2 edge into halftime.
 
RIT extended the lead to eight at 10-2 early in the third quarter, but Swedlund scored back-to-back goals, one assisted by James Sullivan (Rockville Centre/South Side) and another by Kavanagh, to pull Cortland back to within six at 10-4.
 
Cortland pulled to within five goals on three separate occasions in the fourth quarter, at 11-6, 13-8, and 14-9, but the Tigers responded with a goal each time to keep the Red Dragons at bay.
 
Trailing 14-9 with three minutes left, the Red Dragons had one final extra-man opportunity after a slashing penalty by RIT, but could not register a shot on target and RIT was able to kill the remaining time on the clock to secure the win.