Rochester, N.Y. – The fourth-seeded Ithaca men's lacrosse team (9-8) held a commanding 6-1 lead at the half of its 2011 Empire 8 semifinal at top-seeded and second ranked Rochester Institute of Technology (16-0), but the Tigers tallied 12 second-half goals to earn a 13-9 victory and remain undefeated on the year.

Ithaca held the Tigers to their only scoreless period of the season and its lowest-scoring half of action during their 2011 campaign as the Bombers took a slight 2-0 lead after the first stanza before increasing the Tiger deficit to 5-0 late in the second frame. RIT got on the board with 1:37 lingering in the first half before junior Devin Weinshank (Long Beach/Long Beach) found the back of the net for a 6-1 halftime gap.

RIT opened scoring just 41 seconds into the third period and went on to outscore Ithaca, 12-3, over the latter 30 minutes of play to earn an invitation to the Empire 8 championship game.

Senior Ryan Lowe (Fairport/Fairport) led the Bombers with a career-high tying hat trick, while Weinshank and freshman Jake Long (Upper Dublin/Ft. Washington, Pa.) each netted two. Senior Michael Silipo (Williston Northampton/Deerfield, Mass.) and junior Chris Duncan (Regis Jesuit/Denver, Colo.) accounted for the Bombers' other two goals.

Junior Brian DiBetta (John Jay/Katonah), who won eight of 15 faceoffs attempted, led the Bombers with five ground balls with Duncan and Silipo each scooping up four.

Senior David Gal (Loomis Chafee (Conn.)/Amherst, Mass.) made 11 saves in goal during the contest, the 15th time this season he has stopped nine or more shots on goal.

Lowe netted the game's first goal at 12:09 of the first period on a dish from sophomore Andrew Bruce (De La Salle/Lafayette, Calif.). Just seven seconds later Duncan backed it with his first career tally after grabbing the ground ball on a DiBetta faceoff win. Both teams were scoreless the over the next 12 minutes of play.

Long scored his first at the 14-minute mark of the second and Silipo found the back of the net four minutes later. Eight scoreless minutes ticked away before Weinshank fed Long for a man-up goal and a 5-0 lead at 1:58. RIT broke its scoring drought at 1:37, but Weinshank answered with 17 seconds left in the half to reinstate the five-goal difference, 6-1, at the break.

RIT struck first in the third stint, but Lowe responded on a DiBetta assist at 7:25 for a 7-2 lead. A Tiger goal one minute later proved to be the first of four consecutive as RIT went on to net 11 of the game's final 13 scores.

With its lead cut to one, 7-6, Weinshank went unassisted to open the final quarter for a two-goal cushion. RIT won the ensuing faceoff and marched down field to again make it a one-goal game, 8-7. An unassisted Lowe goal at 11:12 would prove to be the Bombers' last. The Tigers notched the game's final six goals to power to a 13-9 semifinal victory.

The squads each got off 35 shots, with the Tigers winning 17 of 25 faceoffs and collecting 35 ground balls to the Bombers' 27. RIT forced eight turnovers and Ithaca caused five.

The semifinal marked Ithaca's eighth-straight appearance in the Empire 8 tournament.

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