The nationally-ranked No. 16 St. Lawrence University men's lacrosse team battled back from a four-goal deficit against No. 3 RIT on Saturday in Rochester, NY. However, the Tigers were able to hang on for a 9-8 victory to earn the 2013 Liberty League regular season title and the No. 1 overall seed in the conference tournament.

The Saints (10-4, 5-1) saw their eight-game win streak come to an end after being outshot 33-29, committing 19 turnovers and winning only 7-of-21 face-offs. The Tigers (14-2, 6-0) won their eighth consecutive game behind goaltender Pat Johnson, who made 10 saves, and a man-down unit that held St. Lawrence scoreless on four man-up tries.

"I'm happy with the way we battled this afternoon," said St. Lawrence head coach Mike Mahoney. "We fell behind but we didn't throw the towel in against one of the best teams in the country. We can learn from this and get better as we head into the conference tournament.

Senior Mac Johnson led all scorers with four goals for St. Lawrence, while co-captain Davey Hovey had two goals and two assists in the loss. Kyle Aquin had a hat trick for RIT, while Alec Sulesky and Taylor Wisman added two goals each.

RIT was the sharper team throughout the first half, building a 7-4 advantage at intermission behind a 25-12 advantage in shot attempts. The Tigers held a 3-2 lead after the first quarter and grew the lead to 7-3 with 5:24 left in the second. Pierson Fowler would keep the Scarlet and Brown within striking distance with a goal at 12:20, his 15th of the year, to cap the first half scoring with his team trailing 7-4.

St. Lawrence would flip the script in the second half, outshooting RIT by a 17-8 margin in the final 30:00 minutes. Goals by Hovey and Alden Frelinghuysen only 1:09 apart pulled the Saints within a goal at 7-6, but the momentum was halted by RIT's Allister Warren, scoring on St. Lawrence goal Jack Nuland with only :05 seconds left in the third for an 8-6 lead.

The two teams battled back-and-forth in the fourth quarter, but the first goal of the period came from Wisman, putting RIT up 9-6 with only 6:26 remaining. Johnson would add his fourth of the game with 4:11 to go, and Hovey would score an unassisted goal with :33 seconds left to bring the score to 9-8.

Rookie Kirk Ryder would win the ensuing faceoff for St. Lawrence, giving the visitors one last chance to force overtime. However, first-year student Jeremy Vautour's last-second bid went wide of Johnson's cage, allowing the Tigers to escape with a 9-8 win. Union and Skidmore will play this evening for the No. 4 seed and the right to play at RIT.

St. Lawrence will be the No. 2 seed in the Liberty League Tournament and will host the No. 3 seed Clarkson University in the semifinals in Canton, NY on Friday, May 3.