Box l Updated stats
ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Sophomore Scott Castle scored two goals for Nazareth, but visiting Ithaca outscored the Golden Flyers 5-1 in the third quarter and went on to defeat Nazareth 10-5 in an Empire 8 men's lacrosse game.

With the loss, the Golden Flyers fall to 6-4 overall and 3-1 in conference games. The loss also snapped Nazareth's three-game winning streak. The Bombers, ranked seventh nationally in Division III, improve to 11-1 overall and 4-1 in Empire 8 contests with the victory.

Ithaca's Nic Heckman opened the scoring just 28 seconds into the first quarter as he tallied an unassisted goal to give the Bombers an early 1-0 lead. Nazareth junior Mark DeCirce tied the game 1-1 with an unassisted goal with 1:19 left in the first quarter.

The Golden Flyers claimed their first lead of the game when junior Erinn O'Hara scored 1:03 into the second quarter. About four minutes later, Alec Siefert scored off a pass from Nick Neuman to tie the game 2-2. Castle reclaimed Nazareth's one goal lead, 3-2, 47 seconds later with his first goal of the game, but Heckman tallied his second goal of the game about 40 seconds later to tie the game 3-3, with 8:19 remaining in the first half.

The Golden Flyers had a two-man advantage late in the second half after the Bombers were called for holding and slashing penalties, but they were unable to take advantage of the opportunity. After the holding penalty released, Ithaca's Kevin Bush scored a man-down goal to put the Bombers ahead 4-3 with 2:28 left in the first half.

Ithaca's momentum from the man-down goal carried into the second half as they scored the first two goals of the third quarter to take a 6-3 lead. Castle cut Nazareth's deficit to two goals, 6-4, with his second goal of the game, but the Bombers tallied three consecutive goals spanning 3:08 to take a 9-4 lead with 6:57 to play in the third.

Sophomore Joe Jacobs-Ferderbar added the Golden Flyers' fourth quarter goal at the 7:08 mark to bring Nazareth to within four goals of Ithaca, but the Golden Flyers could not get any closer. Heckman tallied his fourth goal of the game with 5:22 left to play to put the Bombers ahead 10-5.

Junior Todd Dermody recorded five saves, all in the first half, for Nazareth. Ithaca's David Gal finished with 18 saves to earn the victory.

Ithaca won 14 of the 19 face-offs, including two of the 10 face-offs in the second half. The Bombers held a 39-33 advantage in ground balls, and the Golden Flyers held a 47-31 advantage in shots.

Nazareth travels to St. John Fisher Wednesday, April 15th for a key Empire 8 contest. The Golden Flyers return to Nazareth to host Stevens Sunday, April 19th in another crucial conference game.