RIT and Nazareth Advance to ECAC Men's Lacrosse Championship
May 8, 2008
Second-seeded Rochester Institute of Technology defeated third seed St. John Fisher College 16-6 and will host fourth-seeded Nazareth College in the ECAC Division III Upstate Championship on Sunday. The Golden Flyers defeated top-seeded Union 15-5.
From RIT Sports Information Release
No. 2 RIT 16, No. 3 St. John Fisher 6
ROCHESTER, NY - The RIT men's lacrosse team exploded for six second quarter goals, en route to a 16-6 win over #3 St. John Fisher on Thursday afternoon in the semifinal of the 2008 ECAC Upstate Championship at RIT Field. The Tigers will face #4 Nazareth College in the title game on Sunday afternoon at 12 p.m. at RIT Field. The Tigers are gunning for their fourth ECAC Upstate Championship in the last five seasons.
St. John Fisher led 2-1 after one quarter of play, before the Tigers kicked it into high gear, scoring six unanswered goals and outscored the Cardinals 15-4 over the final three quarters.
The Tigers dominated play over the first 30 minutes, out-shooting the Cardinals, 31-8, winning the ground ball battle, 29-13.
Wes Adam (Lafayatte, NY/Lafayette) scored three first half goals for RIT, finishing with a team-high five goals. Iric Bressler (Stafford, VA/North Stafford) and Sean Gillies (Oakville, Ontario/Albany Academy) each had two assists in the opening half.
The Tigers kept the momentum going in the second half, outscoring the Cardinals 9-4. RIT outshot St. John Fisher 54-21, won the ground ball battle 66-28 and won 21-of-25 face-offs.
Adam finished with seven points on five goals and two assists. Andrew Ruocco (Corning, NY/Corning East) had two goals and two assists and Dan Rago (Geneva, NY) had three goals and an assist.
RIT's defense was outstanding, holding the Cardinals to 21 shots, six goals and 25 turnovers. Phil Davenport (New Market, MD/Linganore) had six ground balls and caused four turnovers. Jacob Tuller (Corning, NY/Corning East) had one ground balls and caused four turnovers.
Brad Conlon (Ottawa, ON.Bridgton Academy) played all 60 minutes, alloing six goals and making seven saves. Jacob Brunner (Lafayette, NY) was dominant from the face-off "X", winning 18-of-22 and grabbing 10 ground balls.
From Nazareth College Sports Information Release
No. 4 Nazareth 15, No. 1 Union 5
SCHENECTADY, N.Y. -- Senior Aaron Civalier and sophomore Erinn O'Hara each scored four goals and sophomore goalie Todd Dermody made 17 saves Thursday for Nazareth as the visiting Golden Flyers overwhelmed Union in men's lacrosse 15-5.
The victory, in the semifinals of the ECAC Upstate Tournament, boosted fourth-seeded Nazareth's overall record to 9-6 and advanced the Golden Flyers to Sunday's championship game. The Golden Flyers will visit second-seeded RIT at 12 p.m. The Tigers defeated St. John Fisher 16-6 in Thursday's other semifinal.
"I thought we played well at both ends," said Nazareth Coach Rob Randall. "Union is a good team and they had a lot of opportunities, but Todd (Dermody) was a big difference for us."
Nazareth, idle since April 22, won Thursday's game with surprising ease against the top-seeded Dutchmen, who finish their best season ever with a record of 12-5. The Golden Flyers never trailed as they scored three of the four first-quarter goals and went on to extend that advantage to 8-2 by halftime.
Union scored the first goal of the second half, but Nazareth pulled away by outscoring the Dutchmen 5-1 in the fourth quarter.
Civalier scored all four of his goals in the first half as Nazareth took control. O'Hara had goals in both the first and second quarters and Dermody made 10 of his saves in the first 30 minutes. Freshman Matt Morrissey also had a goal as did sophomore Mark DeCirce.
Union closed to within 8-3 on a goal by Chris Collison early in the third quarter, but Nazareth answered with goals by Matt Aloi and DeCirce to go up 10-3 and the Golden Flyers were never seriously challeneged thereafter.
O'Hara added two more goals in the fourth quarter, while Aloi, Mark Kanellis and Joe Valasiadis also contributed.
Nazareth had a 42-36 shooting advantage and collected 33 ground balls, led by O'Hara's eight.
Nazareth tries for its third ECAC title Sunday. The Golden Flyers also won in 1990 and 2006.