SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The Skidmore College men's lacrosse team saw its five-game win streak end in a 16-7 loss to No. 7 RIT, on a warm and sunny Saturday afternoon at Wachenheim Field.
 
The Thoroughbreds drop their first league game of the season, falling to 2-1 and 6-4 overall. RIT, the seventh ranked team in the latest USILA Coaches poll, improved to 9-2 overall and 2-1 in conference play.
 
Brandan Halloran led the Thoroughbreds with three goals. Colby Farnham tallied three points on a goal and a pair of assists. Jack Curry, RJ Caruso, and Jack Howat completed the goal scoring. Will Lukas provided two assists, while Justin Csenge, Jack Metzler, and goalie Chris Baughan provided an assist each.
 
On defense, Chris Sibilia caused three turnovers and Ryan Warnock grabbed seven ground balls, winning eight faceoffs. Baughan was busy in net, stopping 19 shots and adding three ground balls.
 
Ryan Lee tallied five goals for RIT. Chad Levick added three goals and an assist, Braden Wallace added two goals and two assists, and Jay Vakiener scored a goal and added three assists to finish with four points each. Nick Nesbitt picked up the win in net for the Tigers, making six saves.
 
The Tigers came out of the gates strong in the first quarter, shutting out the Thoroughbreds for the first time all season as RIT held a 5-0 lead. Skidmore got on the board, taking advantage of an RIT penalty in the second quarter. Halloran beat Nesbitt low just before the end of the penalty at the 12:23 mark to break the drought. The Tigers added three more before Halloran got his second of the game at the 4:42 mark. Lee added another goal for RIT with 1:08 to go before halftime, as the Tigers held a 9-2 advantage midway through.
 
Skidmore and RIT went goal-for-goal in a wild third quarter, with Curry, Caruso, Farnham, and Howat finishing for the Thoroughbreds. On Howat's goal, Baughan received the ball off a missed RIT shot, then snaked through traffic in the midfield, launching a pass that found Howat to clear possession. Howat finished with an easy shot low on the empty net at 1:17 with RIT pressing on defense.
 
The scoring slowed down in the final quarter, with Halloran tallying his third goal of the season at 5:40, sandwiched between two RIT goals.
 
RIT outshot Skidmore 47-33. Skidmore cleared the ball 18-of-24 times and grabbed 24 ground balls. Skidmore converted on 1-of-2 extra-man opportunities, while RIT went 0-for-3.
 
The Thoroughbreds will hit the road for the next four contests, starting with a Wednesday trip to Schenectady to take on Union at 4 p.m.