ROCHESTER, NY – After falling behind early, the Nazareth University Men's Lacrosse team put together a streak of five out of six goals late in the second quarter and through the third quarter to close the gap but RIT, ranked No. 2 in the country, scored eight times in the final quarter to pull away for a 19-9 victory Wednesday afternoon on the Nazareth Lacrosse Players Association (NLPA) Turf Field.

Senior Quinn McKercher and sophomore William O'Neill each scored twice to lead Nazareth (1-2).

The start time of the game was adjusted in the hopes of avoiding the expected bad weather conditions, but a couple lightning strikes in the area delayed the warmups and pushed the game time to its original time of 4 p.m.

RIT (3-0) scored the first two goals before senior Quinn McKercher took a pass from junior Andy Hamel and cut the lead in half.

The teams traded goals with sophomore Kyle Rosenberger scoring for the Golden Flyers to make it a 3-2 game.

RIT scored four straight goals to extend the lead before McKercher scored his second goal of the game with 12 seconds left in the first quarter as RIT took a 7-3 lead into the first quarter break.

In the second quarter, the Tigers added three more goals to take a 10-3 lead before Nazareth started its rally.

O'Neill started the scoring run with 5:44 left in the second period and sophomore Matthew Farrington added a man-up goal at 4:18. Both goals were assisted by Rosenberger.

After RIT scored to make it 11-5, junior Michael Bergan tallied to trim the lead to 11-6 as the first half came to an end.

Early in the third period, O'Neill and Hamel scored back-to-back goals to cut further into the lead and Nazareth trailed 11-8 with 11:28 left in the third quarter.

Neither team was able to score for the remainder of the quarter as the weather conditions deteriorated to a harsh snow/wind mix.

RIT scored six times in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter to regain control and added a pair of late goals before sophomore Luke Suchyna scored with 23 second remaining for the final score.

Rosenberger finished with a goal and four assists for five points, Farrington added three points with a goal and two assists while McKercher and O'Neill each scored twice.

Sophomore McLean Ralston played the entire game in the Nazareth goal and finished with 14 saves for his third consecutive double-digit saves effort.

Nazareth hits the road over the weekend for a game at Clarkson Saturday and will play at Ithaca next Wednesday.