ITHACA DEFEATS NAZARETH, 15-9
Golden Flyers (12-2) visits St. John Fisher Tuesday at 4 p.m.
» BOXSCORE | » CUMULATIVE STATS

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (April 20, 2007) – Ithaca extended a 2-1 first quarter lead to an 8-4 halftime advantage enroute to 15-9 victory over host Nazareth on Friday afternoon to clinch the #1 seed in next week's Empire 8 Confrence Men's Lacrosse Tournmanet.

Freshman Erinn O'Hara (Salisbury/Camillus, NY) gave the Golden Flyers an early 1-0 advantage, scoring just 2:24 into the game. Eight minutes later, Kyle Golden (Ossining/Briarcliff Manor, NY) scored the first of his two goals in a 4-0 Ithaca run to take a 4-1 lead with 12:48 remaining in the half. Kevn Kimball (St. Mark's/Framingham, MA) and Matt Aloi (Jamesville-DeWitt/Jamesville, NY) answered with goals for the Golden Flyers. The Bombers finished the half with a goal to take an 8-4 lead into halftime.

Ryan Hotaling (pictured; Onondaga/Syracuse, NY)scored :44 into the third quarter to spark a three-goal Nazareth rally, bringing the Golden Flyers within one goal with 12:54 remaining in the third quarter. After an Ithaca time out, Matt Neligan (Pingree School/Rowley, MA) scored to start a 5-0 Bombers run to pull away.

The Golden Flyers outshot Ithaca 45-40 for the game and held a 16-12 advantage on face-offs. Ithaca's (6-0 E8, 13-2 overall) Dennis Butler (Pleasantville/Pleasantville, NY) made 15 saves in goal.

Hotaling led the Golden Flyers with two goals and an assist. Kimball and Jordan Hirsch (Hendrick Hudson/Montrose, NY) also scored two goals each. For Ithaca, Craig Leipane (Irondequoit/Rochester, NY) scored four goals and had an assist, and Nelligan added three goals.

Nazareth (5-1 E8, 12-2 overall) conclude their regular season at St. John Fisher on Tuesday at 4 p.m. The Empire 8 Tournament begins next Friday with the top four teams in the conference qualifying.