PITTSFORD, N.Y. (April 24, 2007) -- Visiting Nazareth scored seven unaswered goals in the fourth quarter Tuesday to break open a close game and to pull away from St. John Fisher in a 16-8 men's lacrosse victory at Growney Stadium.

The victory enabled seventh-ranked Nazareth to close out its regular-season schedule at 13-2 overall, including 6-1 in Empire 8 Conference games. St. John Fisher is 9-5 overall and 3-4 in conference games. Both teams will be competing Friday in the E8 Conference Tournament. Nazareth is seeded second and will host RIT at 4 p.m. at Golden Flyer Stadium (WYSL-AM 1040 / wysl1040.com). Fourth-seeded Fisher visits top-seeded Ithaca. The championship game is Sunday at the site of the highest remaining seed.

Senior midfielder Chad Amidon scored four goals, including three in the fourth quarter, to fuel Nazareth's offense against Fisher. Freshman attackman Erinn O'Hara and senior Jordan Hirsch each had two goals and one assist, while junior midfielders Aaron Civalier and Steve Cutia each scored twice.

"They were a very solid and scrappy team," said Nazareth Coach Rob Randall. "We worked hard down the stretch for the win."

Although Nazareth never trailed, the game was close through the first three quarters. Nazareth led 6-5 at halftime and 9-8 with 15 minutes left. In the fourth quarter, Amidon won the opening face-off and scored unassisted to trigger the Golden Flyers' seven-goal outburst.

Civalier scored with 9:18 left and Amidon scored less than a minute later off an assist from Ryan Hotaling. Goals by Hirsch, O'Hara, Amidon and Jim Schultheis closed out the scoring.

Senior midfielder Kevin Kimball scored the game's first goal in the opening minute and the Golden Flyers went on to get goals from Conor O'Keefe, Civalier and Hotaling to take a 4-2 lead. Cutia scored a man-up goal in the second quarter and Hirsch added an even-strength goal as Nazareth held on to a 6-5 lead. O'Hara, Amidon and Cutia scored for Nazareth in the third quarter.

Nazareth had advantages in shots (38-30) and ground balls (40-34) and each team won 14 face-offs. Nazareth goalie Pat Mullin made 11 saves.

Score by Period       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Nazareth............  4  2  3  7 - 16
St. John Fisher.....  2  3  3  0 -  8
 
Attendance: 600
 
Nazareth SCORING:
GOALS: Chad Amidon 4; Erinn O'Hara 2; Jordan Hirsch 2; Aaron Civalier 2;
       Steve Cutia 2; Ryan Hotaling 1; Conor O'Keefe 1; Kevin Kimball 1;
       Jim Schultheis 1.
ASSISTS: Ryan Hotaling 3; Alex Cole 1; Jordan Hirsch 1; Brian Lissner 1;
         Erinn O'Hara 1; Conor O'Keefe 1; Jim Wall 1.
 
St. John Fisher SCORING:
GOALS: Dave Malone 1; Matt Hargather 1; Chris Schmidt 1; Zack Zazzara 1;
       Dennis Bell 1; Matt Kaiser 1; Scott Bowen 1; Michael-Paul Solamon 1.
ASSISTS: Dave Malone 1; Jeff Price 1.
 
SHOTS BY PERIOD       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Nazareth............ 13  7  8 10 - 38
St. John Fisher.....  8 10  8  4 - 30
 
GROUND BALLS BY PRD   1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Nazareth............ 13  8  7 12 - 40
St. John Fisher..... 11  9  8  6 - 34
 
FACE-OFFS BY PRD       1     2     3     4     Total
----------------------------------------------------
Nazareth............  3-7   2-6   4-7   5-8  - 14-28
St. John Fisher.....  4-7   4-6   3-7   3-8  - 14-28
 
CLEARS BY PERIOD       1     2     3     4     Total
----------------------------------------------------
Nazareth............  7-9   4-4   0-3   5-9  - 16-25
St. John Fisher.....  5-5   4-6   4-6   4-5  - 17-22
 
EXTRA-MAN OPPS         1     2     3     4     Total
----------------------------------------------------
Nazareth............  0-0   1-2   0-1   1-2  -  2-5
St. John Fisher.....  1-1   0-0   0-0   0-1  -  1-2
 
SAVES BY PERIOD       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Nazareth............  5  2  3  1 - 11
St. John Fisher.....  2  3  1  2 -  8
 
PENALTIES - NAZARETH 2/1:30; FISHER 5/3:00.

2007-04-24