UTICA, N.Y. -- Less than a week after returning from a highly successful spring trip to Florida, where they secured two impressive wins over top 10 teams, visiting Nazareth suffered a disappointing Empire 8 Conference defeat in men's lacrosse Wednesday as the Golden Flyers were stunned by Utica, 11-9.

The Golden Flyers had climbed to ninth in the latest Division III rankings compiled this week by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association after solid wins over Wesleyan and Western New England last week. The loss to the Pioneers, however, dropped Nazareth's overall record to 4-2 and its E8 mark to 1-1. Utica, with its first win ever over the Golden Flyers in eight tries, improved to 2-6 overall and 1-1 in conference games.

The Pioneers jumped on Nazareth early, scoring six times in the first quarter and the Golden Flyers could not recover. Second-quarter goals from Erinn O'Hara and Aaron Civalier trimmed the lead to 6-2, but Utica answered with a goal by Michael Bulger to open the second half to extend the lead to 7-2.

Four straight Nazareth goals -- Civalier, Doug Milano-Johnson, O'Hara and Matt Aloi -- brought the Golden Flyers to within one, 7-6, midway through the third quarter, but Utica responded with goals by Michael Schepis and John Giordano to close out the third quarter and another by Josh Turner just 15 seconds into the fourth to go back in front by four, 10-6.

Nazareth got fourth-quarter goals from Aloi, Milano-Johnson and Corey Remoli, but the Golden Flyers could not take advantage of a man-up opportunity late in the game as the Pioneers held on for the upset win.

Nazareth had a 42-31 shooting advantage, but Utica goalies Travis Wright and Anthony Carnevale combined for 18 saves. Sophomore Todd Dermody had nine saves for the Golden Flyers, who host Hartwick Saturday in E8 action at 1:00 p.m.

Score by Period       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
NAZARETH............  0  2  4  3 -  9
Utica...............  6  0  3  2 - 11
 
Attendance: 200
 
NAZARETH SCORING:
GOALS: Erinn O'Hara 2; Doug Milano-Johnson 2; Aaron Civalier 2;
       Matt Aloi 2; Corey Remoli 1.
ASSISTS: Erinn O'Hara 3; Alex Cole 1; Doug Milano-Johnson 1.
 
Utica SCORING:
GOALS: Michael Bulger 3; Tanner Stewart 2; Ryan Schmidt 1; Dave Misiaszek 1;
       Tom Collins 1; Josh Turner 1; John Giordano 1; Michael Schepis 1.
ASSISTS: Kory Buckley 2; Corey Boulio 1; Michael Bulger 1; Tom Collins 1;
         Dave Misiaszek 1; Ryan Schmidt 1; Andrew Waite 1.
 
SHOTS BY PERIOD       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
NAZARETH............  7 13 11 11 - 42
Utica............... 12  6  7  6 - 31
 
GROUND BALLS BY PRD   1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
NAZARETH............  8 11 12  8 - 39
Utica............... 12  8 13 11 - 44
 
FACE-OFFS BY PRD       1     2     3     4     Total
----------------------------------------------------
NAZARETH............  4-6   3-3   6-8   1-6  - 14-23
Utica...............  2-6   0-3   2-8   5-6  -  9-23
 
CLEARS BY PERIOD       1     2     3     4     Total
----------------------------------------------------
NAZARETH............  2-3   5-8   4-5   4-4  - 15-20
Utica...............  6-9   6-9   4-8   2-4  - 18-30
 
EXTRA-MAN OPPS         1     2     3     4     Total
----------------------------------------------------
NAZARETH............  0-0   0-1   0-0   0-1  -  0-2
Utica...............  1-1   0-0   1-2   0-1  -  2-4
 
SAVES BY PERIOD       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
NAZARETH............  3  3  2  1 -  9
Utica...............  4  7  4  3 - 18
 
TURNOVERS BY PRD      1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
NAZARETH............  7  7  8  6 - 28
Utica...............  6  8  9 11 - 34
 
PENALTIES - NAZARETH 4/3:00; Utica 2/1:00.
 
SCORING SUMMARY:
    Prd  Time Team  Type Goal Scorer               Assists                H-V
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. 1st 13:59 UTICA EVEN Ryan Schmidt (10)........ Unassisted...........  1-0
 2.     11:04 UTICA EVEN Tom Collins (2).......... Kory Buckley.........  2-0
 3.      5:49 UTICA EVEN Dave Misiaszek (11)...... Unassisted...........  3-0
 4.      5:27 UTICA UP   Michael Bulger (8)....... Kory Buckley.........  4-0
 5.      4:41 UTICA EVEN Tanner Stewart (13)...... Michael Bulger.......  5-0
 6.      3:31 UTICA EVEN Michael Bulger (9)....... Tom Collins..........  6-0
 7. 2nd  8:56 NAZAR EVEN Aaron Civalier (12)...... Erinn O'Hara.........  6-1
 8.      5:19 NAZAR EVEN Erinn O'Hara (9)......... Alex Cole............  6-2
 9. 3rd 10:23 UTICA UP   Michael Bulger (10)...... Dave Misiaszek.......  7-2
10.      9:27 NAZAR EVEN Aaron Civalier (13)...... Unassisted...........  7-3
11.      8:33 NAZAR EVEN Doug Milano-Johnson (3).. Erinn O'Hara.........  7-4
12.      8:09 NAZAR EVEN Erinn O'Hara (10)........ Unassisted...........  7-5
13.      7:07 NAZAR EVEN Matt Aloi (11)........... Doug Milano-Johnson..  7-6
14.      5:23 UTICA EVEN Michael Schepis (2)...... Corey Boulio.........  8-6
15.      3:08 UTICA EVEN John Giordano (1)........ Andrew Waite.........  9-6
16. 4th 14:45 UTICA EVEN Josh Turner (2).......... Unassisted........... 10-6
17.     11:04 NAZAR EVEN Matt Aloi (12)........... Erinn O'Hara......... 10-7
18.      9:36 NAZAR EVEN Doug Milano-Johnson (4).. Unassisted........... 10-8
19.      8:27 UTICA EVEN Tanner Stewart (14)...... Ryan Schmidt......... 11-8
20.      2:57 NAZAR EVEN Corey Remoli (14)........ Unassisted........... 11-9

2008-03-26