Men's Lacrosse wraps up record breaking season with a loss to No. 3 RIT in the NCAA Division III Championship

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Ohio Northern men's lacrosse team fell 20-3 at No. 3 Rochester Institute of Technology (N.Y.) in the second round of the NCAA Division III Championship to wrap up a historical and record-breaking season on a sunny Saturday afternoon. 

The Basics

• Records: Ohio Northern (16-5 Overall), RIT (N.Y.) (19-1 Overall).
• Venue: Tiger Stadium - Rochester, N.Y. 

The Game  

• Freshman Peyton Lich (Palmyra, N.Y./Macedon) had a school-record 20 saves in goal for the Orange and Black. 
• Sophomore Mitchel Luck (Linden, Mich.) found the net to put the Polar Bears on the scoreboard and cut into the lead 4-1.
• The Tigers scored six goals in the second period and led 12-1 heading into halftime.
• Juniors Mark Mintzlaff (St. Louis, Mo./Country Day) and Colin Willits (West Chester/Lakota West) scored back-to-back goals to open the second half, making it 12-3.
• RIT led 14-3 going into the fourth period.
• Senior Jack Wasik (Columbus/Worthington Kilbourne)  had a team-high two caused turnovers to help the defense.
• RIT out-shot ONU 59-19 and had the ground ball advantage 51-27.

Notables

• This is ONU's first time in program history in the NCAA Division III Championships. 
• The Polar Bears won their first OAC Championship in ONU history this season and finished with a program record 16 wins. 
• Willits holds the single-season record for goals in a season with 55 and led the team in points with 68. 
• Senior Caleb Bennett (Stokesdale, N.C./Linganore) led the team in assists this season with 31. He finished his career with 120 points on 67 goals and 53 assists. 
• Sophomore Ryan Frech (Columbus/Worthington Kilbourne) led the team in caused turnovers this season with 32.
• Senior Chad Calderwood (Portland, Ore./Episcopal) won 7 of 19 in faceoffs on the day, extending his school record to 596 for his career.
• He also has the career ground balls record with 275.
• Senior Ian Roy (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Northern) finished his career with 57 points on 28 goals and 29 assists. 
• Senior defenseman Joe Keeley (Boynton Beach, Fla./Georgetown Prep) had 59 caused turnovers and 99 ground balls in his 75 career games. 
• Wasik finishes his career with 36 caused turnovers and 65 ground balls in 59 career games played.
• Willits is fourth all-time in ONU history with 97 career goals.
• Lich has the freshman single-season record in saves with 163.
• He now has the single-game saves record with his 20 saves in today's contest.
• This was the first match-up between these two schools.
• Bennett ranks fourth all-time in ONU history with 53 career assists.
• In all, 26 different Polar Bears have scored goals this season.
• Head coach Nat St.Laurent is in his tenth season at Ohio Northern with a 108-53 record, a winning percentage of .670.

Up Next

• Season Complete.