2026 DIV III NCAA MEN'S LACROSSE CHAMPIONSHIP

May 24, 2026

Jake Coon

Tyler Kuchar

Jamie Hunt

Ethan Harkins

Alex Zborowski

Scott Stadium

RIT Tigers

Finals Media Conference

Tufts 11, RIT 6

MODERATOR: Okay. We are joined by RIT. We have head coach Jake Coon, Ethan Harkins, Jamie Hunt, Tyler Kuchar, and Alex Zborowski. Did I get that right?

All right. Good. Thanks, guys. We'll start with an opening statement from Coach Coon, and then we'll open it up for questions for the players, and then we'll dismiss the players and bring back questions for Coach.

Coach, the floor is yours. Opening statement.

JAKE COON: Yeah. Tough to come up with words with the disappointment we have. Some devastated athletes in there, and they put a lot of time and effort into our program, their craft, and it's really disappointing to see the outcome today.

Also can't express my thanks enough. I tried to tell them in the huddle how much we appreciate what they do on a daily basis, and just so proud of them for continuing to improve the program, and especially these captains that are seniors. Can't say enough about them and what they mean to the program. Just disappointed for them to finish this way.

Thought throughout the day we had moments of some greatness. We also had some moments where we made mistakes and we paid for it.

But at the end of the day, I am proud of these guys for the effort they put in, not just today, but throughout the course of the year. And a group that really fought through some adversity this season, and can't say enough about the group. They're fantastic young men.

MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. We'll take questions now for the student-athletes.

Q. Not directed to any of you individually, but anybody that wants to, what do you feel like was the most significant moment in which the outcome of the game hinged?

JAMIE HUNT: I think it's difficult to pin it down to one particular thing. I mean, that's a heck of a ball team over there. That's kind of like the standard of the Division III lacrosse right now, and you gotta give them credit where credit is due. They played really well.

For us, I think we just -- I don't think we necessarily lost to a better team. I think we just kind of shot ourselves in the foot at times, and it was more than once.

So if we were able to limit those mistakes, some mental lapses on our end, some turnovers that maybe we usually squeeze, I think maybe we're looking at a different outcome.

But hard to pin it on one moment. Like I said, that's a hell of a ball team, and they capitalized.

MODERATOR: Tyler oral Alex do you want to add anything to that?

ALEX ZBOROWSKI: I think Jamie hammered it. When they got their opportunities they buried it and they capitalized off our mistakes today, so credit to them.

Q. You guys, you played with a lot of grit today, and it takes a lot to make it to a championship game. When you're looking back, what are you most proud of from today and from the season from the adversity you guys have overcome?

ETHAN HARKINS: I'm just proud of the group. We show up every day and ready to work, and we just love spending time with each other. The goal, obviously you want to win a National Championship, but we just want to spend as much time with our group as possible.

I love all these guys up here and everyone in the room. Unfortunately we came up short today but I'm glad we got to spend this much time together.

JAMIE HUNT: Probably one of the most battle tested teams I've been a part of at RIT. Six years in at this program, and never really had the regular season that we had this year.

But it didn't really faze our guys, and was such a young squad that's not really what you expect. You expect them to kind of sit with those mistakes, but they didn't for a second.

I give a ton of credit to our upperclassmen and also our young guys for just sticking to what we were saying, sticking to what coach was saying, chipping away, trusting in the process. And like Harky was saying, obviously you want to come out on top, but we got to spend as much time as possible this season with each other, and I think that's in the grand scheme of things what's most important.

Q. Jamie, the emotions are evident right now. Throughout your time with this program what's made you the most proud to get to this moment and see how this thing has all grown?

JAMIE HUNT: Hard to narrow it down. I think just kind of what I was alluding to earlier, the turnaround that you saw on this team. I mean, if you were to ask me after dropping back-to-back losses in the regular season (indiscernible) I don't really know what my response would have been to do you think you're going to make it this far.

But like I was saying before, we addressed it internally. We talked with Coach. We talked amongst our seniors, and the guys took it and they ran with it. And I think that's what I'm most proud of for them, is like they took it on themselves, looked themselves in the mirrors, and knew we were capable of more than bigger things we were playing at at that moment in time and then you saw the result of that come playoffs.

We knocked off some pretty good teams. Again, would have been nice to get it done, but at the end of the day, we spent as much time together as we could. I mean, we always talk about that. That's why I keep going back to it, but yeah, just proud of the guys. I love these guys, and definitely going to miss it.

MODERATOR: All right, guys, you are free to head back to the locker room or you can stick around with Coach. Questions for Coach Coon.

Q. Coach, you mentioned moments of greatness from your team. What are some of those things that you think your team did well today even in a losing effort?

JAKE COON: Yeah. I thought we were doing a great job on the GB battle throughout the course of the game. Face-offs, I think Phil Minardo, freshmen face-off guy for us, had a really good day. Just collectively we were battling and clawing for every single ground ball out there. Even if we lost them, we were fighting for them.

There were moments of really good stuff. I thought David Charney played really well today for us. People don't realize he's had a broken wrist for the last over I think five weeks now he's played with a broken wrist and he's really battled through that. Before the St. Lawrence game he rolled his ankle as well. So he's been beat up this year and fought through it.

But just collectively, I thought Alex played really good in the goal, made some big saves for us all day long, really battled out there. So a lot of great stuff. There was a ton of great stuff. Looking at the stats it was a very even ballgame. The first half I thought we were actually up in quite a few categories except for the score unfortunately.

And really that narrowed down to a couple costly turnovers, and we knew coming in if you give those guys transition opportunities they were going to capitalize on them.

So but a lot of great stuff. I'm proud of the guys, and I'm proud that they kept weathering it and stuck with it. We didn't fold. There were people out there that thought we would lose by 15 or 20. So glad they didn't.

Q. A lot of great action out there today, for certain. And the stats showed it. I mean, neck and neck most of the way. So really what were some of those keys that you guys missed with some of those moments?

JAKE COON: If you look at it, I think there was a couple times we got caught on defense, we jumped into a zone a couple of times, and we just kind of got caught. We thought they were going to do one thing, and I think they were still running their man offense and we were in a zone, and it kind of threw us off and we gave them a couple good looks in that.

Looking back I almost wish we would have just played man to man all day instead of trying to jump into our zone, because I thought we were doing a good job there as well collectively against a really good team.

But on the offensive end we were trying to stuff the ball into tight spaces and tried to make a few skip passes, and off they went to the races and gave up some transition goals.

We knew coming in you have to slow down their transition game. Their LSMs are really good and they're deadly in transition. So unfortunately we gave them way too many opportunities in that area.

And also, I think we -- in the second half, especially I think we had three or four doorstep type opportunities that we didn't capitalize on, maybe four that we didn't capitalize on, and you need to capitalize on those in a game like this.

Q. Coach, there was that sequence at the end of the first half, about two minutes left, you're coming out of a timeout, and there's a turnover and then Tufts is able to go make it and you go from down 8-6 to 11-6. What is it like in the halftime locker room after that and did you consider that to be maybe one of the key sequences of the game?

JAKE COON: Certainly when you give a team like that runs it kind of gave them a little bit of momentum, and we went on a run. It wasn't just the turnover, it was a loss face-off and the next draw we lost. It was just a combination of a few things that we jumped into a zone coming out of one of the timeouts and they scored pretty quick. No. 14 rolled off the crease and I think scored in that sequence.

Definitely not a great turnover, and I know Erich was pretty upset about it. But in the locker room the guys responded. They were ready to go in the second half. I mean, I didn't feel at all like we were reeling or, you know, not ready to go. I think they all believed that we could make a run at it and still win the game.

Again, proud of them for enduring some adversity and fighting through it.

Q. There's still a ton to be proud of. Obviously you guys are really legacy in the league. What are you going to take from this season and carry on into next year?

JAKE COON: Well, again, I hope the guys, especially the returners, we have a young group of guys. So we're pretty excited about what we have returning. What I really hope that they take is as much as they can from these guys, from the seniors and our leadership.

I think we've done a good job over the years of kind of passing down the torch in terms of what we do collectively as a program and what's required of you off the field and on the field.

And what's most important is that that torch is passed and the guys learn a ton from these upperclassmen. Jamie has been around, Coach Hunt over here has been around for a bunch of years. So he's meant a lot to the program, and these guys jumped in and did a great job.

And we only have nine or ten guys, but collectively as leaders they were fantastic, and hopefully that will continue. I think that's the most important thing.

But I also think the guys are going to take some confidence away from fighting and clawing and getting to this point. Certainly not the outcome we wanted, but I would have to bet that they're going to be pretty hungry to get back. So we'll take that, too.