Rochester, N.Y. -- The eighth-ranked men's lacrosse team clinched the top-seed in the upcoming Empire 8 Championship Tournament with its conference record 22nd straight Empire 8 win, defeating #5 Nazareth 15-9. The Bombers improved to 13-2 on the season, tying the school record for wins set in 2001 and 2004, and 6-0 in the Empire 8. Nazareth dropped to 12-2 on the season and 5-1 in conference play.

 

Junior midfielder Craig Lepiane (West Irondequoit/Rochester) led the Bombers with four goals and one assist and junior attack Matt Nelligan (Pingree School/Rowley, Mass.) added three goals. Senior midfielder Kyle Golden (Ossining/Briarcliff) and junior midfielder Kevin Bush (Arapahoe [Colo.]/East Point, Fla.) added two goals each. Junior midfielder Mike Nowak (Ballston Spa/Ballston Spa) scored one goal and had a game-high two assists.

 

Nazareth grabbed an early 1-0 lead, scoring 2:24 into the contest, but Ithaca scored each of the next four goals to take a 4-1 lead 2:12 into the second half. Golden tied that game at 1-1 with 4:39 to go in the first quarter and Bush put the Bombers ahead for good with just five-seconds left in the opening period.

 

Nazareth scored a pair of goals to cut the Lead to a goal 4-3 with 7:45 left in the second quarter. Ithaca then went on a 4-1 run to close the first half with an 8-4 lead. The Golden Flyers came out firing to open the third quarter, scoring three times in the first 2:06 to get back within a goal at 8-7. Ithaca called a timeout after the third goal of quarter and then took control of the contest by scoring each of the next five goals, including three in a row by Lepiane, to put the game out of reach.

 

Senior goalie Dennis Butler (Pleasantville/Pleasantville) stopped 15 shots in recording his 13^th victory of the season. He made six saves in the third quarter and had nine stops in the second half. Junior long stick Brandon Rose (Rush-Henrietta/Rochester) scooped a team-best 11 ground balls and registered a game-high four caused turnovers.  

 

The Bombers close out the regular season Sunday when they host Elmira at 1 p.m. at Upper Terrace Field.