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ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Visiting RIT outscored Nazareth 8-3 in the second half Saturday to rally for a 13-8 men's lacrosse victory over the Golden Flyers in a key Empire 8 Conference match-up at Golden Flyer Stadium.

Both teams have clinched conference playoff berths, but Nazareth was denied the top seed and hosting rights for next weekend's tournament. The Golden Flyers, with losses to Stevens and RIT in their last two games, now stand at 11-4 overall and 6-2 in the Empire 8. RIT improved to 11-5 overall and 6-2 in conference games.

St. John Fisher, a 17-5 winner over Utica Saturday, has the inside track on the tournament's top seed and just needs a win over Elmira Tuesday to win the regular-season conference title. Ithaca, by virtue of an 11-8 win over Stevens Saturday, will be the fourth seed. That means that Nazareth will likely travel to RIT Friday for a rematch in the opening round of the E8 Tournament at a time to be determined.

The game was close throughout the first half as the teams were tied at 5-5 after 30 minutes. Nazareth then got an unassisted score from #C.J. Estes# less than two minutes into the third quarter to take a 6-5 advantage.  RIT, however, then embarked on a six-goal scoring spree that bridged the third and fourth quarters to secure an 11-6 advantage.

The third goal of the day for Joe Jacobs-Ferderbar brought Nazareth back to within 11-7, but RIT's Sean Gillies answered by scoring his fourth and fifth goals of the game just 43 seconds apart as the Tigers' lead ballooned to 13-7 with less than 12 minutes left.

RIT's had leads of 4-2 and 5-3 in the first half, but Nazareth got goals from Scott Castle and Kyle Brown just 16 seconds apart to tie the score at 5-5 before halftime. Gillies then helped to spearhead RIT's second-half surge as he and Kelso Davis each scored twice during the six-goal spurt.

Jordan MacIntosh also scored three goals for RIT and Adam Vlassis had one goal and one assist. Jacobs-Ferderbar had three goals for Nazareth. Mike Centra and Kurt Detwiler also scored.

RIT had advantages in shots (37-35), ground balls (35-23) and face-offs (12-11). Jerry Ragonese had seven ground balls for the Tigers on the strength of winning 12 of 23 draws. Long-stick middie M.J. Kiekebelt had six ground balls. Estes led Nazareth with six ground balls.

Sophomore Grant Williams made his first career start in goal for the Golden Flyers and had 13 saves. Robert Tonnessen had nine saves for the Tigers.

Nazareth has a non-conference game Tuesday against Medaille at home at 4 p.m.