BOXSCORE |
CUMULATIVE STATSROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Attackman
Erinn O'Hara scored four goals and added three assists and goalie
Todd Dermody registered a career-high 22 saves Sunday as Nazareth won the ECAC Upstate Championship for men's lacrosse with a 16-9 victory over host RIT.
The victory avenged an 18-7 regular-season defeat and enabled the Golden Flyers to finish their season at 10-6 overall. It also marked Nazareth's third ECAC Upstate title and second in the last three seasons. RIT finished 11-8 overall.
"We did a lot of good things," said Nazareth Coach
Rob Randall. "We won some face-offs, made some saves and scored some goals. It's a nice way for our seniors to go out."
There were numerous stars for the Golden Flyers Sunday, including senior midfielder
Aaron Civalier, who was named the tournament's most outstanding player with two goals and three assists. Fellow senior
Matt Aloi also scored three times. Sophomore long-stick
Kyle Brown and sophomore attackman
Mark DeCirce each contributed two goals and one assist.
Nazareth led 7-5 at halftime and never trailed in the second half. RIT closed to 8-7 late in the third quarter, but Nazareth responded by scoring three times in the last two minutes to carry an 11-7 lead into the final 15 minutes. RIT's Dan Rago scored with 3:29 left in the third to bring the Tigers to within 8-7, but O'Hara intercepted an errant RIT clearing pass and scored unassisted to put Nazareth back in front by two, 9-7, with 1:58 left in the third.
Just 18 seconds later, freshman defenseman
Brian Orr scooped up a ground ball and sprinted into the RIT zone and passed to a wide-open DeCirce for another goal. With :17 left in the quarter, Nazareth's
Mark Kanellis scored on a shot that deflected off RIT goalie Kevin Rattigan before finding its place in the goal.
Trailing 11-7, RIT had the first goal of te fourth quarter as Adam Vlassis scored off an assist from Andrew Ruocco, but Nazareth answered less than a minute later as Aloi converted a pass from O'Hara. Nazareth upped its lead to 13-8 midway through the fourth on O'Hara's fourth goal of the game with Civalier assisting.
Wes Adam's fourth goal of the game brought RIT to within 13-9, but Nazareth sealed the win with goals from Brown, Civalier and Aloi.
Dermody, meanwhile, kept the Tigers frustrated as he made 11 saves in each half and picked up three ground balls. RIT's Jacob Brunner won 17 of 28 face-offs, but Nazareth was able to break even against him in the second half as freshman R.J. Gringeri won seven draws.