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HERKIMER, N.Y. -- Nazareth rallied from a five-goal deficit to tie the score late in the first half, but Western New England seized control again and surged to an 18-12 men's lacrosse victory over the Golden Flyer sin a non-conference game played at Herkimer Community College.

The Golden Bears, ranked 15th nationally, improved to 12-3 overall, while 19th-ranked Nazareth dropped to 11-4 overall. The Golden Flyers host second-ranked RIT Tuesday in another non-conference tilt at 4 p.m.

Nazareth's Hunter Burdick scored three goals, including the first tally of the game in the opening minutes, but WNE rallied to secure leads of 6-2 and 8-3 early in the second half. The Golden Flyers then used a surge of their own to tie the score at 8-8, before a man-up goal by WNE's Justin Bard with :55 left in the half put the Golden Bears ahead for good at 9-8.

Western New England then scored six more times in the third quarter to break the game open. Burdick scored again early in the fourth quarter to bring Nazareth to within 15-11, but the Golden Bears scored three more times to pull away again.

Burdick finished with a career-high six points with three assists to go along with his three goals. Senior Matt O'Neill also scored three times. Troy Haefele and Paul Walter each scored twice, while Nick Arnold and Luke Longo also scored. Luke Wooters contributed three assists.

After Western New England went up 8-3 early in the second quarter, an unassisted goal by O'Neill touched off Nazareth's five-goal spree. Wooters assisted on the next three goals -- by Arnold, Haefele and Walter -- and Haefele scored again off an assist by Burdick with 3:49 left in the half to tie the score at 8-8.

Bard then cashed in an extra-man opportunity for his first of five goals in the game. He scored three more times in the third quarter and once more in the fourth as the Golden Bears pulled away. He leads the team with 46 goals. The Golden Bears were successful on 4-of-6 extra-man chances, while Nazareth went 1-for-5.

Western New England had a 45-43 edge in shots and a 35-24 advantage in ground balls. The Golden Bears also won 19 of 32 face-offs.

Scott Brown played all 60 minutes in goal for Nazareth and had 12 saves. Steven Kerr also had 12 saves for Western New England.