ITHACA, N.Y. -- Junior Mark DeCirce (Binghamton, NY) scored four goals, including the game-winner with :29 left in overtime Friday to lift fourth-seeded Nazareth to a 13-12 upset win over top-seeded Ithaca in the semifinals of the Empire 8 Conference Tournament for men's lacrosse. The Golden Flyers improved to 10-6 overall by avenging a regular-season defeat. Nazareth will face third-seeded St. John Fisher Sunday at 12:00 p.m. for the conference championship. Fisher knocked off Stevens, 15-14, in the other semifinal match. Ithaca, ranked third nationally, is 14-2 overall.

Nazareth led 7-3 at halftime and 9-6 after three quarters, before Ithaca rallied to outscore Nazareth 6-3 in the fourth quarter, including the tying goal with :36 left, to force overtime. Ithaca controlled the ball for most of the four-minute extra period and took two shots, each sailing wide. Nazareth's Scott Castle (Skaneateles, NY) caused a turnover and C.J. Estes (Medfield, Mass.) scooped up a ground ball with 1:39 left. Following a Nazareth timeout, sophomore Joe Jacobs-Ferderbar (Orchard Park, NY) set up DeCirce with the game-winning goal, his fourth of the game and team-best 39th of the season.

Ithaca also dominated the game statistically with advantages in shots (47-30), ground balls (42-38) and face-offs (20-9). The Golden Flyers, however, got 19 saves from junior goalie Todd Dermody (Selden, NY), who had five saves in the fourth quarter. Despite the statistical disadvantage, Nazareth led most of the way. Ithaca led 3-2 late in the first quarter, then Nazareth scored five straight goals, including an unassisted score by Jacobs-Ferderbar with :14 left in the first half to build a 7-3 lead.

Ithaca scored three straight to open the second half to close within 7-6, but DeCirce scored twice in a two-minute stretch in the third quarter to push the lead to 9-6 heading into the fourth quarter. Three straight Ithaca goals to open the fourth quarter tied the score at 9-9. Nazareth answered with fourth-quarter goals from Castle, Erinn O'Hara (Camillus, NY) and DeCirce and were ahead 12-10 with 3:54 left.

Ithaca's Kevin Bush scored unassisted with 2:07 left and Matt Cutter's fifth goal of the game (and fourth of the fourth quarter) tied the score at 12-12 with 36 seconds left.

DeCirce also had one assist in addition to his four goals. Jacobs-Ferderbar finished with two goals and four assists. O'Hara and R.J. Gringeri (Geneva, NY) each scored twice. Castle, Estes and Mike Cummings (Elmira, NY) also scored. In addition to Cutter's five goals, Kevin Bush had two goals and three assists for Ithaca.

Sunday's game at Fisher will be a rematch of an earlier meeting in which the Cardinals edged Nazareth for the first time ever, 13-12, April 15. Sunday's winner gains an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.

Score by Period       1  2  3  4 OT  Tot
----------------------------------------
Nazareth............  3  4  2  3  1 - 13
Ithaca..............  3  0  3  6  0 - 12
 
Attendance:
 
Nazareth SCORING:
GOALS: Mark DeCirce 4; Joe Jacobs-Ferderbar 2; Erinn O'Hara 2;
       R.J. Gringeri 2; Scott Castle 1; C.J. Estes 1; Mike Cummings 1.
ASSISTS: Joe Jacobs-Ferderbar 4; Scott Castle 1; Mark DeCirce 1;
         Sean Dennison 1.
 
Ithaca SCORING:
GOALS: Matt CUTTER 5; Kevin BUSH 2; Mike SILIPO 2; Nic HECKMAN 1;
       Jay LUCAS 1; Mike LOHAN 1.
ASSISTS: Kevin BUSH 3; Nic HECKMAN 2; Chris CARMAN 1.
 
SHOTS BY PERIOD       1  2  3  4 OT  Tot
----------------------------------------
Nazareth............  9  7  8  5  1 - 30
Ithaca.............. 12  9 11 13  2 - 47
 
GROUND BALLS BY PRD   1  2  3  4 OT  Tot
----------------------------------------
Nazareth............  5  8  6  7  2 - 28
Ithaca..............  9  9 11 11  2 - 42
 
FACE-OFFS BY PRD       1     2     3     4     OT    Total
----------------------------------------------------------
Nazareth............  2-7   2-5   2-6   3-10  0-1  -  9-29
Ithaca..............  5-7   3-5   4-6   7-10  1-1  - 20-29
 
CLEARS BY PERIOD       1     2     3     4     OT    Total
----------------------------------------------------------
Nazareth............  2-3   4-4   3-3   3-5   0-1  - 12-16
Ithaca..............  4-4   4-6   4-5   3-4   0-0  - 15-19
 
EXTRA-MAN OPPS         1     2     3     4     OT    Total
----------------------------------------------------------
Nazareth............  1-1   1-2   1-1   0-0   0-0  -  3-4
Ithaca..............  0-0   0-0   0-1   0-0   0-0  -  0-1
 
SAVES BY PERIOD       1  2  3  4 OT  Tot
----------------------------------------
Nazareth............  4  6  4  5  0 - 19
Ithaca..............  1  2  3  1  0 -  7
 
TURNOVERS BY PRD      1  2  3  4 OT  Tot
----------------------------------------
Nazareth............  3  5  6  6  1 - 21
Ithaca..............  3  5  4  3  1 - 16
 
Penalties - Nazareth 1/0:30; Ithaca 4/4:00.
 
SCORING SUMMARY:
    Prd  Time Team     Type Goal Scorer           Assists               H-V
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. 1st 13:38 ITHACA   EVEN Jay LUCAS ........... Nic HECKMAN ........  1-0
 2.     11:56 NAZARETH EVEN Erinn O'Hara ........ Unassisted..........  1-1
 3.     10:25 NAZARETH UP   R.J. Gringeri ....... Unassisted..........  1-2
 4.      6:26 ITHACA   EVEN Mike SILIPO ......... Unassisted..........  2-2
 5.      4:45 ITHACA   EVEN Kevin BUSH .......... Unassisted..........  3-2
 6.      1:34 NAZARETH EVEN Joe Jacobs-Ferderbar  Mark DeCirce .......  3-3
 7. 2nd 14:29 NAZARETH EVEN C.J. Estes .......... Joe Jacobs-Ferderbar  3-4
 8.     11:51 NAZARETH UP   R.J. Gringeri ....... Joe Jacobs-Ferderbar  3-5
 9.      8:03 NAZARETH EVEN Mike Cummings ....... Scott Castle .......  3-6
10.      0:14 NAZARETH EVEN Joe Jacobs-Ferderbar  Unassisted..........  3-7
11. 3rd  9:00 ITHACA   EVEN Matt CUTTER ......... Nic HECKMAN ........  4-7
12.      8:27 ITHACA   EVEN Mike SILIPO ......... Kevin BUSH .........  5-7
13.      7:57 ITHACA   EVEN Mike LOHAN .......... Unassisted..........  6-7
14.      5:45 NAZARETH EVEN Mark DeCirce ........ Sean Dennison ......  6-8
15.      3:34 NAZARETH UP   Mark DeCirce ........ Joe Jacobs-Ferderbar  6-9
16. 4th 14:10 ITHACA   EVEN Nic HECKMAN.......... Unassisted..........  7-9
17.     11:51 ITHACA   EVEN Matt CUTTER.......... Unassisted..........  8-9
18.     10:53 ITHACA   EVEN Matt CUTTER.......... Chris CARMAN........  9-9
19.      9:20 NAZARETH EVEN Scott Castle......... Unassisted..........  9-10
20.      7:45 NAZARETH EVEN Mark DeCirce......... Unassisted..........  9-11
21.      6:32 ITHACA   EVEN Matt CUTTER.......... Kevin BUSH.......... 10-11
22.      3:54 NAZARETH EVEN Erinn O'Hara......... Unassisted.......... 10-12
23.      2:07 ITHACA   EVEN Kevin BUSH........... Unassisted.......... 11-12
24.      0:36 ITHACA   EVEN Matt CUTTER.......... Kevin BUSH.......... 12-12
25. OT   0:29 NAZARETH EVEN Mark DeCirce......... Joe Jacobs-Ferderbar 12-13

2009-05-01