ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Junior attackman Mark DeCirce (Binghamton, NY) scored four goals and junior goalie Todd Dermody (Selden, NY) made 18 saves Saturday, as Nazareth outscored host RIT in men's lacrosse, 12-10, to clinch the fourth and final playoff spot for next weekend's Empire 8 Conference Tournament.

The Golden Flyers improved to 8-6 overall and completed their conference schedule with a 5-3 record. As the fourth seed for next week's tournament, Nazareth will play Friday against the winner of Saturday evening's match-up between Ithaca and Stevens. St. John Fisher will be the other participant. The E8 title game is May 3. RIT, eliminated from playoff contention, is 9-6 overall and 4-3 in conference play.

In winning Saturday, Nazareth never trailed and built a seven-goal advantage early in the fourth quarter before RIT rallied by scoring the last five goals in the final 3:15.

Senior midfielder Sean Dennison (Redding, Conn.) scored two goals and added three assists. Attackmen Joe Jacobs-Ferderbar (Orchard Park, NY) and C.J. Estes (Medfield, Mass.) each added two goals. Sophomore R.J. Gringeri (Geneva, NY) won 12 of 23 face-offs and collected 11 ground balls. Long-stick defender Kyle Brown (Baltimore, Md.) had six ground balls and Mitchel Frey (Terrace Park, Ohio) had four with four caused turnovers.

DeCirce scored Nazareth's first three goals, including an extra-man marker off an assist from Jacobs-Ferderbar to open the second-quarter scoring. Dennison also scored in the second quarter as Nazareth held a slim 4-3 lead at the break.

After RIT tied the score on a man-up goal by David Burke :17 into the third quarter, Nazareth rattled off six straight goals, including a man-up goal by Erinn O'Hara (Camillus, NY) with 6:29 to go in the period and a short-handed goal by Estes with :04 left to make the score 10-4.

After RIT closed to within 10-5 early in the fourth quarter, Nazareth scored twice to take its largest lead of the game at 12-5. Jacobs-Ferderbar converted a pass from O'Hara with 10:10 left, then less than a minute later -- with 9:17 left -- senior Alex Cole (Cincinnati, Ohio), from behind the goal, delivered a pass to a fast-breaking Dennison for Nazareth's 12th and final goal.

Some sloppy possessions in the closing minutes enabled RIT to finish with a flurry, but the Tigers had built too large a deficit to complete the comeback.

Dermody's 18 saves included eight in the fourth quarter. He also helped thwart RIT on 4 of 5 extra-man opportunities. Burke and Adam Vlassis each scored two goals for RIT.

Nazareth is home Tuesday for its final regular-season game against Keuka at 4:00 p.m.

2009-04-25