ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Host and second-seeded Nazareth outscored Alfred 8-3 in the fourth quarter Thursday to pull away from the Saxons for a 13-8 men's lacrosse victory at Golden Flyer Stadium.
The victory, in the semifinals of the Empire 8 Conference Tournament, improved Nazareth's overall record to 4-6 and qualified the Golden Flyers for the E8 Championship game Sunday at top-seeded St. John Fisher at 12 p.m.
Jeremy Jacob scored four goals and
Jack McOsker added four points, including a career-best three goals, to pace the Nazareth offense. All three of McOsker's goals came in succession in the decisive fourth quarter as Nazareth steadily pulled away.
The game was tied 4-4 at halftime and 5-5 after three quarters. Alfred scored the first goal of the fourth quarter to go up 6-5 in the opening seconds, but
Cole Moore answered for Nazareth just 22 seconds later to retie the score. That touched off a four-goal flurry that ended with Nazareth up 9-6.
Just 29 seconds after Moore's goal, McOsker delivered his first goal off an extra-man pass from
Quinn McKercher. He scored again off an assist from
Jon Parrinello, then again unassisted after sprinting past an Alfred defender.
After the Saxons interrupted the scoring spree, Nazareth rattled off four more goals in a row to go up 13-7.
Jon Roth scored unassisted and
Lucas Cobery followed 28 seconds later off a pass from
Tate Martinez. Less than a minute later, McKercher scored unassisted while Nazareth was a man down. Martinez finished it off just 29 seconds after that.
Jacob scored three of his goals in the first half and
Quinn Conroy contributed an extra-man tally as the score see-sawed back and forth. Jacobs fourth goal came in the third quarter.
Nazareth had advantages in shots (44-37) and ground Balls (43-37).
Mike Herrera went 12-for-24 on face-offs and goalie
Carson Pickeral played well in equaling a career-high with 16 saves. Herrera also had eight ground balls, Pickeral and Moore five each. Martinez and McKercher each had two assists.
On Sunday, Nazareth will be competing for its 11th conference title and an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.
