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CORTLAND, N.Y. -- Host Cortland scored early and often Wednesday in a men's lacrosse game against Nazareth as the fourth-ranked Red Dragons took a 17-10 victory over the 12th-ranked Golden Flyers.

Cortland, defending NCAA Division III champion, improved to 4-2, while the Golden Flyers dropped to 4-2 overall. Nazareth plays 16th-ranked St. Lawrence Saturday at 2 p.m. at Skaneateles High School.

Cortland dominated the stat sheet and translated to the scoreboard as the Red Dragons had quarter leads of 5-1, 10-2 and 16-6. Brandon Misiaszek had three goals and two assists and Mike Tota added three goals to fuel Cortland's offense.

Cortland also dominated by winning 20 of 31 faceoffs -- Justin Battino went 17 for 26 -- and had a commanding 48-26 edge in shots.

Cortland scored the game's first five goals, including three by Tota, to take control. Senior Mark DeCirce broke through for Nazareth near the end of the first quarter, but Cortland answered by scoring five straight goals to open the second quarter.

Any hope Nazareth had of rallying in the second half was quickly dashed as Cortland scored twice in a 10-second span. First Pat Hayes scored unassisted, then long-stick Jack Kennedy scooped up a ground ball off the ensuing faceoff and scored unassisted to make the score 12-2.

Nazareth made the final score respectable with four goals in the third and fourth quarters. DeCirce finished with three goals and one assist and Scott Castle contributed two goals and one assist. Sophomore #C.J. Estes# scored once and added three assists.

Senior goalie Todd Dermody played all but the final minute in goal and made 10 saves for Nazareth. Freshman Mike Kaminski made 11 saves for Cortland.