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HOBOKEN, N.J. -- Top-seeded and 10th-ranked Stevens rallied to score eight times in the second quarter Wednesday to rally past fourth-seeded Nazareth for a 17-12 victory in the semifinals of the Empire 8 Conference Tournament for men's lacrosse.

The Ducks trailed 5-1 after one quarter, but rallied to win for the 13th straight time to boost their overall record to 16-2. Nazareth's season ends at 7-11. Stevens will host second-seeded St. John Fisher Saturday for the conference championship, which carries an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.

Sophomore Jeremy Jacob paced the Golden Flyers with four goals and two assists, while Jon Roth and Jon Lippert each added two goals. Nazareth controlled the Ducks in the first quarter by scoring five times -- two goals by Lippert and one each for Jacob Roth and Colin McElligott -- to take a stunning 5-1 advantage.

The Ducks, who got six goals from Nico Ipeker and five from Brendan Monteleone, gradually worked their way back in the second quarter. Ipeker scored four times and Monteleone twice. A goal by Nazareth's Matthew Vanliew gave the Golden Flyers an 8-7 advantage with 1:32 left in the half. Stevens, however, scored twice in the final :11 to take its first lead of the day. First Monteleone scored off a pass from Ryan Gebhardt to tie the score at 8-8. Then after Stevens won the ensuing face-off, Max Bailey (four assists) found Gebhardt for the go-ahead goal with less than one second on the scoreboard clock.

The Ducks never trailed thereafter as they scored four more times each in the third and fourth quarters. Nazareth managed to score a buzzer-beater of its own before the third quarter expired as Roth converted a pass from Jacob to keep the Golden Flyers within striking distance at 13-11 heading into the fourth quarter.

Monteleone and Gebhardt each scored in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter to extend the lead. Nazareth had a fourth-quarter extra-man goal from Jack Crowley, but it wasn't enough as the Ducks prevailed.

Stevens had a 43-30 edge in shots, but Nazareth won 19 of 30 face-offs with Tim Vinton winning 12 of 21 and Jared Miglorie seven of nine. Eric Almquist made nine saves in goal for Nazareth, while Carson White had 11 for the Ducks.