Box | Cumulative Stats
ROCHESTER, NY - Nazareth scored three first half goals and held on to defeat Elmira College 3-1 in the Empire 8 semi-final men's soccer game this afternoon.  The Golden Flyers improve to 10-6-2 and advance to Sunday's championship game at the number one seed Stevens Institute of Technology at 11 a.m.  Elmira ends its season 11-5-2.

John Kerr scored just under three minutes into the game to give Nazareth an early 1-0 lead.  Kerr scored off a crossing pass from Ryan Foley.  Rikesh Kotak extended the lead to two at 32:05 when he took a free kick just outside of the box beating Elmira goalkeeper Alex Todd to the upper corner.  Kotak scored his second of the game and team leading 11th goal of the season with just four seconds remaining in the first half to put the Golden Flyers up 3-0. 

Nazareth out-shot Elmira 13-7, including 10-2 in the first half.  They also had a 12-7 advantage in corner kicks (9-3 in the first). 

Elmira gained some momentum in the second half after Jackson Correia scored his fifth goal of the season at 59:38 to make the score 3-1.  Despite out-shooting Nazareth in the second half 5-3, the Soaring Eagles were unable to capitalize on their scoring opportunities. 

Nazareth's Kyle Connolly had two saves in goal while Todd finished with three for Elmira.