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CORTLAND, N.Y. -- Nazareth sophomore Mark Pinski tallied the first goal of the game midway through the first quarter to provide the Golden Flyers with the lead, but second-ranked Cortland converted its opportunities to score nine of the final 10 goals of the game to defeat Nazareth 9-2 in a non-conference men's lacrosse game on Tuesday evening. Junior Tim Doyle amassed a season-high 15 saves for the Golden Flyers in the loss.

After falling to the Red Dragons, Nazareth drops to 6-7 overall. With the victory, Cortland remains undefeated in the 2012 season and improve to 13-0.

Pinski gave the Golden Flyers the early edge after senior #C.J. Estes# caused a turnover. Pinski collected the initial loose ball from the turnover. About 15 seconds later, freshman Vincent Parrillo collected another ground ball. By collecting the ground balls, Nazareth's offensive possession continued. The possession concluded with senior Nate DeLone finding Pinski with a pass, who scored his first-career goal.

Following Nazareth's goal, the Red Dragons continued to attack and tied the game 57 seconds later. Joe Slavik, who finished with a game-high three goals, won the faceoff following Pinski's goal. Slavik scored the game-tying goal later in Cortland's possession. With 4:30 left to play in the first quarter, the Red Dragons claimed their first lead of the game after Cortland's Greg Wright collected a loose ball following a Nazareth turnover. Wright eventually assisted on Mike Cantelli's goal.

Less than a minute into the second quarter, Slavik recorded his second goal of the game after the Red Dragons won the faceoff. Nazareth continued to stay close with by preventing Cortland's potent attack from scoring for almost 10 minutes. Senior John McDonnell trimmed the Golden Flyers' deficit to 3-2 midway through the period after Parrillo collected another ground ball. Cortland, however, scored twice in the final five minutes of the period to claim a 5-2 lead at the break.

Doyle kept the Golden Flyers in the game through the first half with a total of 10 saves. Doyle accumulated seven saves in the first quarter. The Red Dragons' tenacious defense limited Nazareth to a total of four first-half shots. Cortland, meanwhile, recorded 25 total shots in the first 30 minutes.

Cortland's 4-0 scoring advantage in the third quarter proved to be decisive and allow the Red Dragons to pull away. Cortland scored three of their goals in a span of just 1:13 to stretch its lead to 8-2 with 9:31 to play in the period. Mike Tota, Brian Winterfeldt, and Slavik had the Red Dragons' goals. Cortland's Nick Jarvis won the faceoffs to allow the Red Dragons to score in succession. Following the scoring run, the Nazareth's defense allowed just one goal in the final 24:31 of action. Late in the quarter, Cody Consul added an unassisted goal for the Red Dragons' final tally.

Although the Golden Flyers were unable to solve Cortland's defense in the fourth quarter, Nazareth had more opportunities. The Golden Flyers recorded seven of their total 13 shots in the final period and finished the quarter with a 12-4 advantage in ground balls. Doyle also added four more saves in goal.

For the game, Cortland recorded an overwhelming advantage in total shots, 46-13. Despite Nazareth's efficiency in collecting loose balls in the final period, the Red Dragons also had a 34-27 overall advantage in ground balls collected. Cortland finished with a 9-6 edge in faceoffs. Pinski, Parrillo, and freshman Drew Simoneau each won two faceoffs for the Flyers.

Mike Kaminski recorded three saves in goal for Cortland to earn the victory.

Nazareth resumes its Empire 8 action on Saturday with a critical conference game at 12th-ranked Stevens.