ITHACA, N.Y. -- The fifth-ranked men's lacrosse (15-2) team defeated St. John Fisher (9-6) Friday afternoon, 10-8, in the semifinal round of the Empire 8 Championship Tournament. Sophomore Ben Connery (Homer/Homer) recorded a career high nine saves, eight of which came in the second half, in his first career win.

Juniors Matt Nelligan (Pingree School/Rowley, Mass.) and Craig Lepiane (West Irondequoit/Rochester) led the Bombers with three goals and one assist each, and sophomore Mike Cintineo (Honeoye Falls-Lima/Honeoye Falls) tallied two goals. Junior Logan Bobzien (Arapahoe/Centennial, Colo.) and sophomore Matt Ruhnke (Brien McMahon/Norwalk, Conn.) recorded one goal each in the win.

Ithaca tallied 43 ground balls and 16 faceoff wins on 22 attempts.

Freshman Chris Schmidt (West Genesee/Camillus) led St. John Fisher with four goals and classmate Dave Malone (Penfield/Penfield) recorded two goals. Senior Matt Hargather (Fairport/Fairport) notched two goals and classmate Brian Cummings (West Genesee/Syracuse) made 19 saves in goal for the Cardinals.

The Bombers began the scoring just 32 seconds into the game with an unassisted goal from Cintineo. St. John Fisher evened the contest at six a side on a goal from Malone with 18 seconds left before the half. Nelligan scored just 10 seconds later to put Ithaca up 7-6 at the half. The two teams traded goals in the third and Cintineo's goal at 8:20 in the fourth gave the Bombers a 10-7 lead, the only three goal lead of the game.

Top-seeded Ithaca will face second-seeded Nazareth, who is ranked seventh nationally, in the Championship game on Sunday at noon at Upper Terrace Field. The Golden Flyers defeated third-seeded and eighth-ranked Rochester Institute of Technology 14-8 in the other semifinal match-up.

Score by Period       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
St. John Fisher.....  2  4  1  1 -  8
Ithaca..............  4  3  1  2 - 10

St. John Fisher SCORING:
GOALS: Chris Schmidt 4; Dave Malone 2; Matt Hargather 2. ASSISTS: Jason Brannigan 2; Dave Malone 2; Zack Zazzara 2.

Ithaca SCORING:
GOALS: Matt NELLIGAN 3; Craig LEPIANE 3; Mike CINTINEO 2; Logan BOBZIEN 1; Matthew RUHNKE 1.
ASSISTS: Logan BOBZIEN 1; Kevin BUSH 1; Craig LEPIANE 1; Matt NELLIGAN 1.

St. John Fisher GROUND BALLS: Brian Cummings 8; Dave Wood 6; Will Empey 4; Kevin Lux 3; Mark Keida 2; Dave Malone 2; Nick Savine 1; Zack Zazzara 1.

Ithaca GROUND BALLS: Brandon ROSE 9; Ben CONNERY 7; Neth WIEDEMANN 5; Mike NOWAK 4; Matt NELLIGAN 3; Matthew RUHNKE 3; Kevin BUSH 2; Kyle GOLDEN 2; Matt HAMMES 2; Mike CINTINEO 1; Craig LEPIANE 1; Tim PFEFFER 1; Pete SCHICK 1; Jordan STAIR 1; Alex TEECE 1.

St. John Fisher TURNOVERS CAUSED: Will Empey 4; Mark Keida 2; Jason Cirulli 1; Kevin Lux 1; Dave Malone 1; Matt Pompo 1. Ithaca TURNOVERS
CAUSED: Neth WIEDEMANN 3; Brandon ROSE 2; Logan BOBZIEN 1; Ben CONNERY 1; Kyle GOLDEN 1; Matt HAMMES 1; Craig LEPIANE 1; Matt NELLIGAN 1; Matthew RUHNKE 1; Pete SCHICK 1.

SHOTS - St. John Fisher 30; Ithaca 45.
SHOTS ON GOAL - St. John Fisher 18; Ithaca 29.
PENALTIES - St. John Fisher 5/3:00; Ithaca 2/1:30.
MAN-UP OPPORTUNITIES - St. John Fisher 0-2; Ithaca 2-5.
TURNOVERS - St. John Fisher 20; Ithaca 18.
FACEOFFS - St. John Fisher 6-22; Ithaca 16-22.
CLEARS - St. John Fisher 17-22; Ithaca 15-17.

GOALIES
SJF: Brian Cummings 7-6 (60:00 minutes, 29 shots-19 saves, 10 GA).
IC: Ben CONNERY 1-0 (45:00, 15-9, 6) , Dennis BUTLER (15:00, 3-1, 2).

2007-04-27