ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- The post-season begins today for the Nazareth men's lacrosse team as the Golden Flyers travel to Ithaca for a first-round matchup in the Empire 8 Conference Tournament. First face-off is 4 p.m. Follow along on Live Stats.

The Golden Flyers are 8-8 overall, including 5-2 in conference play, and are seeded third in the four-team tournament. Top-seeded Stevens hosts St. John Fisher in the other first-round game with the winners playing again Saturday for the E8 title and an automatic berth to the NCAA Division III Tournament. Nazareth is seeking its 20th trip to the NCAAs.

"There's an opportunity out there for us," said Nazareth Coach Rob Randall. "We have a lot of underclassmen playing key roles for us, but we can't consider ourselves a young team anymore."

Nazareth lost 11-5 in a regular-season meeting at Ithaca April 7. The Golden Flyers also lost at Stevens, 14-12, April 21 and defeated St. John Fisher at home, 9-8, April 25.

Players to watch for Nazareth include senior attackman #C.J. Estes#, the team's leading scorer with 47 points and a first-team all-conference player. Sophomore attackman Collin Clark made second-team all-conference and ranks second in scoring with 39 points. Junior Tim Doyle has started all 16 games in goal and has 146 saves and a 9.71 goals-against average.

The Golden Flyers' lineup also features a first-team all-conference face-off specialist in freshman Drew Simoneau, who has won 152 of 268 draws for a 56.7 percent success rate.

Ithaca's lineup includes two first-team all-conference players in junior defenseman Marc Roberts and senior goalie Brendan Green. Second-teamers Pat Slawta (25-16--41) and Tom Mongelli (32-1--33) are the top scoring threats.