Coming off a win in the Liberty League semi-final game against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), the men’s lacrosse team faced number one seeded Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in the Liberty League Championship game on May 4.

The Dutchmen had an early lead on the Tigers by scoring three of the first four goals. Aidan Flood ’21 scored 44 seconds into the game with an assist from Keaton McCann ’21.

The Dutchmen held the lead until RIT tied the game eight minutes later. Kieran McGovern ’21 gave the lead back to the Dutchmen as he scored with 5:48 minutes on the clock with an assist from Kerry Lyne ’20.

Jack Sullivan ’19 gave the Dutchmen a two-goal lead in the second quarter, making it a 3-1 game. The two-goal lead did not last long as the Tigers continued on to score unanswered goals. At halftime, RIT was up 3-5.

RIT kicked off the second half by scoring two more goals, giving them a four point lead.

Hayden Frey ’21 scored for the Dutchmen in attempt to decrease RIT’s lead, but RIT was quick to respond as they scored two more goals in the third quarter.

RIT had a five point lead over the Dutchmen going into the final 15 minutes of play.

In the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Tigers scored two more goals. McCann had an assist from John Edmonds ’19 to make it a 5-11 game.

RIT scored three more goals over a three minute time span before Jack Kaufman ’20 scored for Union. The final score of the game was 6-14.

RIT had a slight edge in shots, 45-42 and had an 11-10 advantage in face-offs. Despite the loss, the Dutchmen still received a second round bid into the NCAA Division III tournament.

This will be Union’s first appearance in the NCAA tournament since 2015. The Dutchmen return to action on Wednesday, May 8 against SUNY Cortland at Frank Bailey at Bertagna-Class of 1985 Stadium.