The 20th-ranked Middlebury men's lacrosse team possessed a 10-9 halftime lead on Tuesday evening, but #8 RIT outscored the Panthers 19-2 during the second half on its way to a 28-12 win inside the Carrier Dome on the campus of Syracuse University. The Panthers (3-5) return to action on Saturday when they travel to #12 Amherst for a 12:00 p.m. NESCAC contest, while the Tigers (6-2) return to action on the same day against #4 St. Lawrence.

In the opening quarter, RIT jumped out to a 3-1 lead over the first five minutes of play. The Panthers responded with six-straight goals over a span of 7:33, including two scores each from Henry Riehl, Jack Gould and A.J. Kucinski, for a 7-3 lead. Gould's tally at the 6:03 mark came on a shot from nearly 60 yards away. The Tigers scored on their final possession of the first quarter, cutting the Middlebury lead to 7-4.

The second quarter saw RIT record four of the first five goals, including three from Ryan Lee, to tie the contest at 8-8 with just over six minutes left before halftime. Sandwiched in the middle of that spurt was Joey Zelkowitz's sixth goal of the season for the Panthers. A pair of tallies from Gould over the final 4:15 of the second stanza, along with Lee's fourth of the quarter for the Tigers, gave Middlebury a 10-9 halftime advantage.

Following the halftime break, the Tigers grabbed a one-goal edge at 11-10 behind goals from Brendan McDonald and Chad Levick. Middlebury answered with a man-up tally from Jake Schneider for his 14th goal of the season at the 10:33 mark. Nick Peterson's first goal of the year just 17 seconds later gave the Panthers their final lead of the night, 12-11. The Tigers recorded the final 17 goals of the game, making it a 28-12 final.

Riehl led the Panthers with three goals and three assists, Gould chipped in with a five-point effort (4-1-5), while Kucinski added two goals and an assist. John Jackson scooped up a team-best eight ground balls and won 19-33 face-off attempts, while Riehl and Peterson each had four ground balls.

Levick paced the Tigers with seven goals and three assists, Lee chipped in with seven scores and a pair of assists, while McDonald tacked on five goals and an assist. Nate Farrell won 20-37 face-off attempts and picked up a game-high 13 ground balls, while Patrick Hannigan added six.

In goal for Middlebury, Will Ernst played the opening half with seven saves, while Will Perry had seven stops in 19:11 of action. Charles Midgley logged the final 10:49 in front of the Panther goal. Nick Nesbitt played the opening quarter for RIT, while Jon Berg earned the win with 10 saves in 36:10 of play. Walker Hare had two saves in 5:51 of play, while Patrick Jackson didn't record a statistic in the final 2:59.