At the end of the day, it’s just a couple of Liberty League boys left in the race to the top
of the mountain. How two teams from the same region, let alone the same conference,
ended up on different sides of the bracket is beyond me. Who cares? The best
conference in Division Three is the only one left standing.
To sum up the history between these two teams since RIT joined The Liberty League in
2012 is simple: it’s close. In recent years the only teams in the region to give the Tigers
consistent trouble has been St. John Fisher and Union. On their way to the Tigers’ first
championship, they played 5 games within 2 goals. Union owns two of those games in
back-to-back weeks. Basically what I’m trying to say is this game should be awesome.
Union is led by a very good defense, an awesome goalie, and some strong attackmen.
The sophomore Donahue has been strong all year in between the pipes holding a 9.15
goals against average. His save percentage is just shy of 60% for the year. Belluche
and Puglisi have anchored the defense both with 24+ caused turnovers on the year.
Burnes, the Offensive player of the year in the Liberty League, is the leading scorer by a
wide margin for the Dutchmen with 84 points (59 goals and 25 assists). The biggest
problem RIT is going to have to overcome is the face off unit for Union, averaging just a
smidge under 65% on the year. They dominated Spillane and his unit last time these
guys went after it.
The best way for Union to pull out the victory and their first ever National Championship
is to dominate the possession game. On top of that, they need to be efficient on offense,
getting a good look at the cage on every single possession. If they can win faceoffs
early and not let Quinn Commandant and the Tigers offense get hot like they seem to
always do, that would be their best shot to win this game.
Fair warning, the rest of this blog will be my love letter to RIT. The Tigers have a
shocking FIFTEEN people on the roster with double digit points. The heavy hitters and
usual suspects include Pilcher (87 pts), Commandant (73 pts), Angus (68 pts), Barnable
(60 pts), Bell (44 pts), and the new kid on the block fresh off his 7 goal game against
Tufts, Gaston (47 pts). Hutchison hasn’t been quite as spectacular as his predecessors
Hare, and Nesbitt; but good enough to hold an 8 goals against average. Jensen, the
Co- Liberty League Defender of the year leads the defense with an insane 45 caused
turnovers, 76 ground balls, and 13 points on the year. He’s surrounded by a few more
All – Liberty League selections in Grace and Eistrat, along with Gagnon, Naylor, Camp,
and Commandant.
If the Tigers can match even half the pace they did to start last week’s game they
should have no problem winning this game. I really believe the classic ‘if they play their
game they’ll be fine’ motto here. The most impressive part of their victory over Tufts was
the brilliance of Spillane and Jensen mucking it up and causing absolute chaos on every
face off. If they can do that again this week, it will be a true killer to Union. Best of luck
to the boys, I can’t wait to watch.
Bell, Commandant, Barnable, Angus, Powlin, Jensen, Eistrat, Hutchison, Hollinger,
Naylor, Spillane. If this is the last ride with these guys, it’s been a hell of a run and
unbelievable to watch how this group has taken this program from runner ups to
National Champions. The 2017 team that was star studded with guys like Lee, Levick,
Salama, Killen, Tacket, Nesbitt, Hall, Nally, and Riley helped transform this team to
consistent national contenders. This senior group took the next step and made the
Tigers winners. This group has only lost FOUR, count em’, FOUR times since most of
them have stepped foot on campus back in 2018. This is just an insane number that’s
hard to even fathom. Quinn to Barnable in double overtime and the celebration that
ensued will forever live in my mind. This group gave me one of the best memories I
could ever imagine last year in getting to watch a group of 50-year-old dudes celebrate
like it was ’85 again. That group of guys included my dad and his best friends that I’ve
grown up watching and listening to talk about the good ol’ RIT. #RollTigers
Off Ball 