NAZARETH TO HOST GENESEO IN FIRST-ROUND GAME
Golden Flyers (15-2) making 17th NCAA appearance
» NAZARETH ROSTER | » NAZARETH SCHEDULE | » STATS | » BRACKET

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (May 7, 2007) -- After a one-year absence, the Nazareth men's lacrosse team will be back on familiar footing this week as the Golden Flyers will host Geneseo in an NCAA Division III Tournament game Saturday at Golden Flyer Stadium. Game time is 5 p.m.

As champions of the Empire 8 Conference, Nazareth (15-2) gained an automatic berth in the 20-team field, marking the Golden Flyers' 17th NCAA appearance in 22 seasons. Geneseo (9-4) gained an automatic berth with a 16-15 upset win over Cortland in Saturday's SUNYAC Tournament final.

Saturday's game is a rematch of a game from March 10 in which Nazareth defeated the Blue Knights, 10-8. Saturday's winner advances to the national quarterfinals on Wednesday, May 16. Wesleyan (Conn.) hosts the winner of the Middlebury-Mount Ida game Saturday.

GETTING THERE: Nazareth, ranked fourth nationally, finished second in the regular-season Empire 8 Conference standings and needed to win tough tournament games against RIT (14-8) and Ithaca (16-14) to gain the conference's automatic bid. In addition to two wins over RIT and one over Ithaca in 2007, Nazareth has a non-conference win over 10th-ranked Cortland (7-6). Nazareth's only losses came to third-ranked Western New England (9-4) and eighth-ranked Ithaca (15-9).

PLAYERS TO WATCH: Nazareth had two players chosen as first-team Empire 8 Conference all-stars in senior attackman Ryan Hotaling and senior midfielder Chad Amidon (pictured), both graduates of Onondaga Central in Syracuse. Hotaling missed four games early in the season with a shoulder injury but still was named E8 Player of the Year after finishing the regular season with 50 points on 31 goals and 19 assists. He scored five goals and added one assist in Nazareth's 16-14 win at Ithaca in the E8 title game. Amidon amassed 51 points on 32 goals and 19 assists. He has a team-best 92 ground balls and has won 60.2 percent of his faceoffs (156 for 259). He had three goals and three assists with 11 ground balls vs. Ithaca.
Nazareth also had the Empire 8 Conference Rookie of the Year in freshman attackman Erinn O'Hara (Salisbury School/Camillus, NY), who is fourth on the team in scoring with 37 points on 24 goals and 13 assists.
Second-team all-conference selections included senior long-stick midfielder Francis Donald (St. Mark's School/Dallas, TX), senior defenseman Ryan Conley (Fairfield HS/Fairfield, CT) and senior goalie Pat Mullin (Irondequoit HS/Rochester, NY).
O'Hara was an honorable mention choice along with senior midfielder Conor O'Keefe (Stony Brook School/Setauket, NY), junior midfielder Mark Kanellis (Cortland HS/Cortland, NY) and senior defenseman Will Tuttle (Phillips Exeter Academy/Kennebunk, ME).

HEAD COACH ROB RANDALL: A native of Irondequoit, Rob Randall is in his seventh season with the Golden Flyers and was recently honored for the third time as Empire 8 Conference Coach of the Year. He also was honored in 2001 and 2003. His 93-22 record (.809) at Nazareth includes a 15-2 mark in 2007.
In 2004, Randall guided Nazareth to its sixth national championship game appearance, where the Golden Flyers were beaten by Salisbury, 13-9.
Randall was head coach for one season at Geneseo and for four seasons at Sacred Heart in Connecticut before coming to Nazareth. He also served as an assistant coach at Army for three seasons.
As a player, Randall was a starting attackman and Offensive MVP of Nazareth's 1987 team that finished with a record of 8-5 in just its second season of intercollegiate play.

NAZARETH IN THE NCAAs: Nazareth is making its 17th appearance in the NCAA Tournament for men's lacrosse and the fifth in seven seasons under head coach Rob Randall. Nazareth won national titles in 1992, 1996, and 1997 and finished second in 1995, 1998 and 2004. Nazareth is 25-13 in tournament play.

SCOUTING GENESEO: Last Saturday's 16-15 win over Cortland improved Geneseo's record to 9-4 overall and enabled the Blue Knights to claim their second straight NCAA Tournament berth. The win over the 10th-ranked Red Dragons averaged a 9-7 regular-season defeat. The Blue Knights enter Saturday's game with a four-game winning streak and eight wins in their last nine games.
Players to watch for Geneseo include freshman attackman Andrew Hanover (West Genesee HS/Camillus, NY), who has 35 points on 27 goals and eight assists; junior attackman Mike Pizzuto (Amherst HS/Amherst, NY), who has 32 points on 24 goals and eight assists); and senior midfielders Colin Ireland (West Islip HS/West Islip, NY) and Owahn Bazydlo (Corcoran HS/Syracuse, NY).
Junior midfielder Tim McDermott (Homer HS/Cortland, NY) had won 69 percent of his face-offs (190 for 276) and has 100 ground balls. Senior Tim Garback (Henninger HS/Syracuse, NY) starts in goal and has a 7.82 goals-against average and a .544 save percentage.

NAZARETH 10, GENESEO 8: Nazareth has won 11 of 13 meetings with the Blue Knights, including a 10-8 triumph at Nazareth March 10. . . In that game, Hotaling saw his first action of the season and had three goals and one assist before reinjuring his shoulder in the second quarter.Nazareth had quarter leads of 3-2, 7-3 and 10-5 and held on in the fourth quarter for the two-goal win. Geneseo had a 49-30 shooting advantage, but Nazareth goalie Pat Mullin (pictured) made 16 saves. Erinn O'Hara contributed on goal and three assists for Nazareth and Mike Pizzuto had two goals and one assist for Geneseo.