Stevenson rallies to edge Nazareth, 8-6

Stevenson rallies to edge Nazareth, 8-6

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OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- Fifth-ranked Stevenson scored three unaswered goals late in the fourth quarter Friday as the Mustangs rallied to defeat Nazareth in a non-conference men's lacrosse game, 8-6.

Stevenson, the defending national champion in Division III, improved to 7-1 overall. Nazareth, which had second-half leads of 4-3 and 6-5, dropped to 2-4 overall. The game served as the nightcap of the Mustang Classic. No. 9 Lynchburg defeated sixth-ranked Cortland, 10-9 in overtime, in the first game. Nazareth and Lynchburg square off Saturday at 5 p.m. Stevenson plays Cortland at 7:30 p.m.

Senior midfielder Collin Clark scored two goals and added an assist for Nazareth. Sophomore Troy Haefele also scored twice. Sophomores Matt O'Neill and Luke Wooters also scored. Tony Rossi scored four goals for Stevenson -- all in the second half.

Trailing 5-4 after three quarters, Nazareth got a man-up goal from Clark off an assist from Chris Aycock just 15 seconds into the fourth quarter to tie the score at 5-5. Less than two minutes later O'Neill put the Golden Flyers in front 6-5 with his third goal of the season off an assist from Wooters.

Stevenson, however, proved resilient by scoring three straight goals to win the game. A slashing penalty to Nazareth's Troy Haefele enabled the Mustangs to tie the score with a man-up goal by Rossi with 7:48 left. Glen Tomkins then scored the go-ahead goal with 6:00 left off an assist from Stephen Banick. Rossi scored again unassisted with 4:59 left for the game's final tally.

Stevenson threatened to turn the game into a rout early by scoring the game's first three goals in the first quarter. Nazareth got on the board with :51 left in the quarter on a man-up goal by Troy Haefele with an assist from Wooters.

Wooters added his teeam-leading 15th goal of the season for the only goal of the second quarter, then Troy Haefele and Clark scored in the third quarter to give Nazareth its first lead at 4-3. Rossi then delievered his first two goals late in the third quarter as Stevenson regained the lead heading into the fourth.

Stevenson had advantages in shots (40-30), ground balls (36-28) and faceoffs (9-8). Sophomore Scott Brown made six saves in goal for Nazareth. Stevenson's Dimitri Pecunes had eight.