Box l Updated Stats

ITHACA, NY – Fourth-seeded Nazareth saw its second half rally come up short, as top-seeded Ithaca won 13-11 to advance to Sunday's Empire 8 title game.

Trailing 12-11 late in the contest, Nazareth forced a turnover before calling a timeout.  The Golden Flyers generated a strong opportunity off the timeout, however, Carly Gates had her shot saved by goaltender Kimberly Presuto.

The Bombers added an insurance goal with just four seconds remaining to seal the win.

The Golden Flyers finish the 2016 season with an 11-6 record, while Ithaca moves to 13-4.

Nazareth led for the entire first half, aided largely by goalkeeper Brianna Rizzari, who notched nine of her 13 saves in the frame.

The four seed scored the first two goal of the game.  Nicole DeVona took a feed from Kate Rothrock for the opening goal.  DeVona later assisted Gabbie Charles at the 20 minute mark. 

Gates broke a 2-2 tie with an unassisted goal at the midway point.  Just :40 seconds later, Haley DeVona found the net for the first time to increase the advantage to 4-2. 

The two teams traded goals the rest of the half.  Gates added a tally before assisting on Nazareth's final two goals of the half from Charles. 

Nazareth led 7-5 at the break.

It was a strong start in the second half for the Bombers, as they scored the first four goals.  Riley Marion scored a man-up goal at the 23:49 mark to put Ithaca in the lead for good at 8-7.

Haley DeVona scored Nazareth's first goal of the second half 10 minutes in to trim the lead to 9-8. 

The Golden Flyers went nearly 10 minutes without a goal before Gates found the net off a strong feed from Suzie Gray, making it 11-9.

After Marion notched her game-high fifth goal, Haley DeVona snuck a shot past the Bombers goaltender for her 47^th goal of the season, cutting the deficit to 12-10.  She finished with three goals in the game.

With under five minutes to play, Gates brought Nazareth to within a goal, but that was as close as they would come.

Ithaca held a 26-10 advantage in ground balls.

Gates tied a career-high with seven points on four goals and three assists.   She also had three ground balls.

Charles ended with three goals, while Nicole DeVona (1 goal, 1 assist) registered a team-high four draw controls.