RIT sweeps series with 7-3 win in series finale

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – RIT broke open a close game with three goals in the third period for a 7-3 win over Air Force, Saturday, Oct. 25, at the Gene Polisseni Center in Rochester, N.Y.

Air Force (1-4-1, 0-2-0 AHA) took its first lead of the series as senior defenseman Chris Hedden scored his second of the season. Freshman Oliver Genest forced a turnover that led to a 3-on-2 rush and then Genest set up Hedden at 10:39 of the first period. The assist was the first point of Genest's career. RIT tied the game as Mathieu Cobetto-Roy scored at 11:36. Air Force regained the lead as Will Dawson forced a turnover and set up Sam Stitz for a 2-1 lead at 12:00. RIT again answered on a 2-on-1 as Zach Wigle tied the game at 12:44. RIT took its first lead of the game at 14:01 as Christian Catalano scored for a 3-2 Tiger lead.

Early in the second period, the Falcons tied the game a 3-3 as the top line struck again. A tic-tac-toe play set up Stitz for his second goal of the game at 5:32 of the second as his linemates Nick Sajevic and Dawson picked up assists. Late in the period, RIT regained the lead on a power-play goal by William Moore with 49 seconds left.

Less than three minutes into the third period, RIT (3-2-0, 2-2-0 AHA) took a 5-3 lead as Caleb Elfering scored. The Tigers added two late goals as Boris Skalos scored at 16:36 and Tyler Mahan added an empty-netter with 27 seconds left in the game.

Air Force had a season-high 42 shots on goal while RIT had 37. RIT was 1-for-4 on the power play and killed all four of Air Force's power plays. Junior Dominik Wasik made his first career start and had a career-high 28 saves. Wasik was forced to leave the game for 8:11 in the first period due to injury and Carter Clafton made a pair of saves. Wasik returned to close out the game. Tiger goalie Jakub Krbecek made 39 saves.

"I thought we played with a lot more spirit right from the beginning," head coach Frank Serratore said. "RIT was very opportunistic. They are strong on their sticks and went hard to the net. They did a better job of attacking and protecting the good ice. We didn't win a single period the whole weekend and that makes it hard to win a game."

Air Force returns home to host a non-conference series with Brown, Friday-Saturday, Oct. 31-Nov.1, at Cadet Ice Arena.

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