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ELMIRA, N.Y. -- Visiting Nazareth scored both of its goals in the second half Saturday to erase a scoreless tie as the Golden Flyers clinched a berth in next month's Empire 8 Conference Tournament for men's soccer with a 2-0 win over Elmira.

The victory was the fifth straight for the Golden Flyers, who improved to 8-6-2 overall and 5-1 in conference games. Elmira is 10-4-2 overall and 4-2 in the Empire 8. Nazareth will be at least the second seed for the E8 Tournament and will host a first-round game Nov. 5. The E8 championship game is Nov. 7.

Senior Rikesh Kotak continued his torrid scoring pace for the Golden Flyers as he netted a goal and an assist to raise his team-leading point total to 22 on nine goals and four assists.

Nazareth had several quality scoring chances in the first half, but the half ended scoreless despite a 13-3 shot advantage in favor fo the Golden Flyers. The second half, however, was less than two minutes old when the Golden Flyers broke the tie as Kotak banged in a rebound of a shot by Rikesh Lad, who was credited with his second assist of the season.

Nazareth continued to dominate and finally scored again at the 54-minute mark as freshman James Wheeler scored his second goal of the season as he buried a crossing pass from Kotak.

Junior Kyle Connolly played all 90 minutes in goal and made two saves for his fourth shutout of the season. Alex Todd made 11 saves for Elmira.

Nazareth has one regular-season game left -- Saturday at home against RIT at 12 p.m.