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ALFRED, N.Y. -- Visiting Nazareth erupted for eight goals in the third quarter Wednesday to break open a close game as the Golden Flyers defeated Alfred, 19-9 in an Empire 8 men's lacrosse game at Yunevich Stadium.

The key victory enabled Nazareth to improve to 5-6 overall and 2-1 in Empire 8 games. Alfred dropped to 4-5 overall and 0-3 in conference games.

Sophomore Jack Crowley scored four goals and added two assists to pace the Nazareth offense. Sophomore Anthony Basile also had six points on two goals and four assists, while junior Jacob Gray and senior Hunter Burdick also scored three times each. Senior Nick Arnold, sidelined since the first game of the season with an ankle injury, returned to the lineup to contribute three goals.

Alfred scored first, but Nazareth responded with four straight goals, including a man-up goal by Crowley, to take the lead for good, Burdick, Gray and Paul Walter also scored during that sequence to set the tone. An Alfred goal interrupted the string, but Crowley and Basile each scored before the quarter ended to give the Golden Flyers a commanding 6-2 advantage.

Senior long-stick Brian Defliese scored his first career goals for Nazareth to highlight the second quarter and Crowley also scored as Nazareth took an 8-5 lead at the half.

The third quarter was all Nazareth as the Golden Flyers unleashed 12 of their 45 shots and found the back of the net eight times. Burdick and senior Joe Eiskant each scored twice while Arnold, Basile, Crowley and Gray also contributed. That put Nazareth up 16-8 and set the fourth-quarter stage for two more goals by Arnold, who was seeing his first game action since the season opener at Springfield on Feb. 25.

Nazareth had significant advantages in shots (45-31) and ground balls (42-25). Junior Seth DeLisle won 18 of 28 faceoffs and had 12 ground balls. Freshman Andrew Leahey pklayed the first 30 minutes in goal and had one save. Alex Winkler played trhe third quarter and most of the fourth and had five saves, before Rick Kronenwett came on late in the game.

Nazareth plays at home Saturday against Ithaca at 1 p.m.