Will Fallo was named E8 Tournament MVP Nazareth Holds Off Ithaca to Take E8 Title 5/2/2015 7:05:00 PM Box ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Host Nazareth built a four-goal lead late in the fourth quarter, then withstood a late-game flurry by Ithaca to claim its ninth Empire 8 Conference title in men's lacrosse Saturday with a 9-8 victory over the Bombers at Golden Flyer Stadium. The victory, its second of the season over Ithaca, improved Nazareth's overall record to 15-4 and clinched an automatic berth to the NCAA Division III Tournament. The Golden Flyers will be making their 21st appearance in the NCAAs, the last nine under the direction of head coach Rob Randall. First-round pairings for the 32-team tournament will be announced Sunday night. Ithaca, which now hopes for one of six Pool C at-large berths, fell to 13-5. Senior Will Fallo scored three goals for Nazareth and was named tournament MVP. He scored one of three Nazareth goals in the fourth quarter that enabled the Golden Flyers to take a 9-5 lead with 5:16 left. Junior Luke Wooters scored Nazareth's ninth goal and was subsequently whistled for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that ultimately resulted in a man-up goal by Ithaca's Jake Cotton with 4:14 to go. A minute later, Jack Shumway scored his team-leading 42nd goal of the season for the Bombers and John Januszkiewicz scored with 1:23 to go to pull Ithaca to within 9-8. Nazareth's Drew Simoneau won the following face-off -- his 13th win of the day in 20 attempts -- and Nazareth was able to run off most the remaining time until Fallo turned the ball over with :06 left. After an Ithaca timeout, a desperate shot attempt by Ithaca's Michael Walker was blocked and never made it on goal as time expired. Ithaca led 2-1 after one quarter on goals by Januszkiewicz and Shumway. Nazareth countered with a goal by Troy Haefele off one of freshman Jacob Gray's three assists. The game remained defense-oriented into the second quarter as Nazareth grinded out goals from Fallo and Haefele to take a 3-2 lead. Fallo's goal came off an assist from Gray and Haefele was assisted by long-stick defender Vincent Parrillo. Januszkiewicz scored early in the third quarter to tie the score for Ithaca, before Nazareth responded with a four-goal flurry that spilled into the fourth quarter. Wooters and Matt McDermott had unassisted goals and Fallo scored off a pass from Hunter Burdick with 1:00 left in the third. Senior Dan O'Brien completed the scoring run with an unassisted score one minute into the fourth quarter to give the Golden Flyers a seemingly safe four-goal lead at 7-3. Ithaca, however, showed resilience by scoring five times over the final 15 minutes to keep the result in question. Steven Danylyshyn and Walker also scored for Ithaca in the fourth quarter in addition to the three-goal flurry in the final 4:14. Ithaca led 38-30 in shots, but Nazareth won the ground ball battle 38-30 with Simoneau accounting for nine. Ten of Simoneau's 13 face-off wins came in the second half. Nazareth went 15 for 18 on clears, while Ithaca went 16 for 20. The game was penalty-free until the fourth quarter, when Ithaca scored twice off two opportunities, while Nazareth failed on its only chance.