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ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Host Nazareth scored five unanswered goals in the fourth quarter Saturday to overtake Ithaca in an Empire 8 Conference men's lacrosse showdown. The Golden Flyers rallied from a 6-4 deficit to claim a 9-6 victory over the Bombers to take over sole possession of first place in the conference standings.

The Golden Flyers, ranked 19th nationally in Division III, remain the only unbeaten team in the Empire 8 at 5-0. They are 10-3 overall. Ithaca, ranked 14th nationally, dropped to 4-1 in the E8 and 9-4 overall.

After scoring four goals in the first quarter, Nazareth went nearly 35 minutes without scoring before erupting for the five goals in the fourth quarter. Nazareth's attack trio of senior Will Fallo and juniors Troy Haefele and Luke Wooters accounted for all five goals as the Golden Flyers dominated the final 15 minutes. Senior Drew Simoneau won five of the six faceoffs in the fourth quarter and Nazareth had advantages in shots (13-4) and ground balls (13-3).

Nazareth trailed 6-4 entering the fourth quarter after Bombers' long-stick defender Eli Gobrecht accounted for the lone goal in the third quarter as he caused a turnover, scooped up the ground ball and raced the length of the field to score unassisted.

Nazareth then took over as Wooters scored his second of three goals on the day just one minute into the quarter off an assist from Haefele. The next two goals came on man-up situations as Wooters scored unassisted after an interference infraction against Ithaca's Grant Osadchey. Then after Osadchey was whistled for slashing, Haefele scored off a pass from Joe Eiskant.

That gave Nazareth the lead for good at 7-6. Fallo and Haefele added insurance goals to preserve the victory. In addition, Nazareth goalie Michael Cuciti made three of his nine saves in the fourth quarter.

The rest of the scoring was done in the first quarter as the teams combined for nine goals. Eiskant, junior Matt O'Neill and freshman Jacob Gray each scored unassisted goals for Nazareth in the first and Wooters delivered the other goal on an outside blast off an assist from Luke Longo.

Jack Shumway scored two goals for Ithaca in the first quarter, including one off a pass from Jake Cotton with :22 left in the period to give the Bombers a 5-4 advantage. The score stayed that way until Gobrecht's goal in the third, which set the stage for Nazareth's fourth quarter scoring spree.

Nazareth had overall advantages in shots (34-25) and ground balls (32-26) and went 13 for 17 on clears. Simoneau won 13 of 19 draws overall and scooped up nine ground balls. Nazareth was solid defensively with the long-stick trio of Jerry Chasteen, Vincent Parrillo and A.J. Small combining for eight ground balls and three caused turnovers. Junior Scott Sidnam had 11 saves in goal for Ithaca.

Nazareth travels to Cortland for a non-conference game Wednesday at 4 p.m. and then closes out the regular season with three conference games, beginning with Saturday's home game against Stevens at 12 p.m.

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