NAZARETH DEFEATS ITHACA IN EMPIRE 8 CHAMPIONSHIP, 16-14
Golden Flyers (15-2) earn automatic bid in the NCAA Tournament
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ITHACA, N.Y. (April 29, 2007) -- Senior attackman Ryan Hotaling (pictured, Onondaga HS/Syracuse, NY) scored five goals and added an assist to lead visiting Nazareth to the 16-14 victory over top-seeded Ithaca in men's lacrosse. The win clinched Nazareth's fourth conference championship in five years and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The seventh-ranked Golden Flyers improve to 15-2 with the victory while the Bombers, ranked fifth nationally, fall to 15-3.

Ithaca sprinted to a 4-0 lead in the first quarter. Matt Nelligan scored just 2:13 into the game to give the Bombers a 1-0 lead. Chris Carman scored with 9:09 left in the quarter and Nelligan added his second goal of the game about a minute later to give Ithaca a 3-0 lead. Kevin Bush finished the Bombers' scoring run with an unassisted goal with 6:30 remaining in the quarter.

Nazareth senior Conor O'Keefe (Stony Brook HS/Setauket, NY) scored the Golden Flyers' first goal with 5:13 left in the first quarter to cut the deficit to 4-1. Senior Chad Amidon (Onondaga HS/Syracuse, NY) made it a 4-2 game as he scored on a pass from freshman Erinn O'Hara (Salisbury/Camillus, NY) with 3:20 to play in the quarter.

Nazareth's scoring run continued into the second quarter as the Golden Flyers scored seven straight goals to take a 9-4 lead with five minutes left in the first half. Amidon scored 2:29 in the quarter followed by a goal from senior Francis Donald (St. Mark's/Dallas, TX) with 11:41 left in the second quarter. Hotaling scored 11 seconds after Donald's goal off an assist from Amidon, then scored again with 10 minutes to play in the quarter. O'Keefe and freshman Mark DeCirce (Binghamton HS/Binghamton, NY) each recorded goals before Hotaling tallied his third of the game to give Nazareth the 9-4 advantage. Nelligan added his third goal of the game for Ithaca to cut Nazareth's lead to 9-5 at halftime.

Hotaling opened the scoring in the third quarter with his fourth goal to extend Nazareth's lead to 10-5. The Bombers answered with two goals to cut Nazareth's lead to 10-7. Nelligan recorded his fourth goal of the game with 10:33 left in the quarter and Bush tallied his second with 7:55 remaining in the quarter.

Junior Matt Aloi (Jamesville-Dewitt HS/Jamesville, NY) scored with 3:25 left in the third to increase Nazareth's lead back to four goals, 11-7. Ithaca's Mike Cintineo scored with 21 seconds remaining in the third to cut Nazareth's lead to three goals going into the final quarter.

Senior Kevin Kimball (St. Mark's/Framingham, MA) and junior Mark Kanellis (Cortland HS/Cortland, NY) each recorded a goal in the first four minutes of the fourth to extend the Golden Flyers' lead to 13-8. Seconds after Kanellis's goal, the Bombers rallied with their first of five consecutive goals in five minutes to tie the game 13-13 with 6:21 to play. Matthew Ruhnke, Nelligan, and Cintineo each scored once and Craig Lepiane scored twice to pull the Bombers even.

O'Hara gave the Golden Flyers a 14-13 lead with his first goal of the game coming with 4:20 to play. Amidon scored his third goal just 15 seconds later to give Nazareth a two-goal advantage. Amidon was 16-26 on face-offs and collected 11 ground balls for the Golden Flyers. Hotaling tallied his fifth goal of the game with 3:16 to play to give Nazareth a 16-13 lead. Ithaca received one more goal from Lepiane with 1:20 to play, but they could not come any closer.

The Golden Flyers held an advantage in shots (49-43), ground balls (36-25), and faceoffs (20-13). Senior Pat Mullin (Irondequoit HS/Rochester, NY) made 16 saves in the game to record the victory.