The 13th-ranked Middlebury men's lacrosse team tied the game with 3:11 left, but a goal with six seconds remaining gave #2 RIT a narrow 11-10 win Wednesday evening inside the Carrier Dome on the campus of Syracuse University. The Panthers (4-4) return to action on Saturday when they host #4 Amherst at 2:00 p.m., while the Tigers (9-0) return to action on the same day against #8 St. Lawrence.

Middlebury got on the board first with a goal from Henry Riehl just 58 seconds into the opening quarter. A little less than three minutes later, RIT's Ryan Lee tied the game at 1-1 with his 26th goal of the year. At the 7:32 mark, Cedric Rhodes gave the Panthers a lead when he cut in from right side to the top of crease. The Tigers once again tied the contest with a goal from Braden Wallace at 5:15.

Looking to take the lead, Middlebury goalie Will Ernst made a great save on a close-range shot by RIT's Beau Riley with 4:10 left. Ernst gained the ground ball, and the Panthers organized a successful clear. Working the ball around the offensive zone, Jack Cleary ripped a shot from 10 yards away on the right wing, beating RIT goalie Jarryd Lee through the five-hole for a 3-2 lead with 2:09 left in the opening quarter.

The score remained that way until two minutes into the second quarter. In the back-and-forth game, RIT knotted the game at 3-3 when Chad Levick scored in transition. Cleary put the Panthers ahead with his second of the game at 7:44, ripping a shot from 12 yards out into the upper-right corner of the net.

Wallace tied the game at 4-4 with 7:04 left, and neither team found the back of the net for the remainder of the quarter, staying deadlocked at the break.

Out of the intermission, RIT grabbed the lead when Ryan Lee scored on the man-up opportunity at the 11:55 mark, potting a shot from the left wing five yards away. The Panthers pulled even with an unassisted tally from Riehl with 8:42 left, while Kyle Sterzin gave the Tigers a one-goal edge on a man-up score just 31 seconds later.

Middlebury posted the next four goals over a span of 4:54, with two coming from the stick of Sean Carroll. He tied it at 6-6 on a bouncing shot from 12 yards out on the right side. Rhodes gave the Panthers the lead on a shot from the left 10 yards away after a successful clear. Carroll tallied his second of the game and 14th of the spring on a man-up opportunity, following his own rebound for a goal on the doorstep. Tim Giarrusso completed the four-goal spurt with an unassisted score with 2:34 remaining in the third.

The Tigers responded with a four-goal run of their own. Levick had a pair of goals at the 1:35 mark of the third and 4:19 of the fourth for his 20th and 21st scores of the season, sandwiched around tallies from Lee and Wallace, giving RIT a 10-9 lead.  

RIT won the ensuing face-off and had a shot from Wallace hit the post. The Panthers gained possession with just under four minutes left in the final period. Middlebury cycled the ball around the offensive zone, as Kyle Soroka rifled a shot from eight yards out into the top corner of the goal and tied the game at 10-10 with 3:10 left.

After both teams had empty possessions, the Panthers gained possession and took a timeout with 1:36 left. Looking to take the lead, Soroka saw his game-winning attempt hit the post with 44 ticks left. A turnover by the Panthers gave possession to the Tigers, who raced it up the field and called a timeout with 12 seconds left. Wallace found a crease from 10 yards away on a lefty shot for the game-winning goal. The Tigers won the ensuing face-off and ran out the remaining time.

Rhodes led Middlebury with three points on two goals and an assist, while Riehl, Cleary and Carroll all had two goals. Harrison Goodkind finished with a team-high four ground balls. Ernst took the loss in net for the Panthers, making a season-high 13 saves.

Wallace scored four goals and had an assist to pace the Tigers, while Levick and Lee tallied five points on three goals and two assists. Matt Hossack scooped up a game-best eight ground balls, while Steven Ricci won 16-25 face-off chances and had five ground balls. Jarryd Lee got the win in net for the Tigers, making 10 saves.

The four Panther losses this season have been by a combined five goals, including setbacks to #1 Tufts and #2 RIT. The Tigers are now unbeaten in their last 49 regular-season games, as RIT held a 46-31 edge in shots and 44-18 advantage in ground balls. Middlebury was successful on 17-21 clear attempts, while the Tigers went 15-17.