sCHENECTADY, N.Y. – Nazareth senior Aaron Civalier scored four goals and added an assist as the fourth-seeded Golden Flyers upset top-seeded Union College, 15-5, in the ECAC Division III Upstate Men's Lacrosse Championships semifinal game at Frank Bailey Field Thursday afternoon. Nazareth (9-6) led 8-2 at halftime and was backed by 17 saves from sophomore goaltender Todd Dermody. Union concludes its historic season with a 12-5 record, the most wins in program history.
Nazareth will face second-seeded RIT in the ECAC Division III Upstate Men's Lacrosse Championship title game on Sunday at noon at RIT Field.
The Golden Flyers jumped out to a 2-0 lead less than five minutes into the game and never trailed, leading by as many as six in the first half before a 5-1 run in the fourth quarter sealed the game.
Civalier put Nazareth up just 12 seconds into the game before sophomore attack Erinn O'Hara registered his first of four scores on the day off a Mark DeCirce feed.
Union's
Matthew Douglas (New York, N.Y.) got the Dutchmen within one less than 30 seconds later, but Civalier closed the quarter with an unassisted low shot before opening the next stanza with his 32
nd goal of the year to give the Golden Flyers a 4-1 lead.
O'Hara kept it rolling for Nazareth before Union's
Jon Miller (Yarmouth, Maine) broke it up with his 32
nd on the year, fed outside from near the netfront by Douglas to cut the visitors' lead to 5-2.
Nazareth closed out the half with three straight tallies, first from DeCirce, who finished with four points on a pair of goals and two helpers, and then from Civalier and freshman Matt Morrissey.
The Dutchmen opened the second half with a quick
Chris Collison (Trumbull, Conn.) score from
Scott Garibaldi (Summit, N.J.), but the Golden Flyers used tallies from Matt Aloi and DeCirce to edge ahead to a seven-goal lead, 10-3, midway through the frame.
Miller notched a man-up tally, the only one for either side in a game that featured only three man-up opportunities, to close out the third quarter. Freshman
Ian Hunter (Providence, R.I.) fed the ball from the low right out to Miller, who fired from 15 yards out for his team-leading 10
th man-up score on the season with 5:40 on the clock.
The Golden Flyers picked up the first three goals of the final frame before Union senior
Gordon Burdis (Salt Point, N.Y.) converted an
Andrew Higgins (Wrentham, Mass.) feed at 7:19 to make the score 13-5 in favor of the visitors.
Nazareth recorded two goals on Union relief netminder
Rahde Franke (Harwood, Md.) in the waning minutes from Joe Valasiadis and Mark Kanellis for the final 10-goal spread.
Franke made one save in the final 7:32 of the game, while Union starter
Christopher Keinath (Wilbraham, Mass.) stopped 11 shots in the loss, ending the season with an 11-5 record. Dermody, who made 17 saves, including six in both the second and third quarters, improves to 7-5 on the season.
Under the direction of Liberty League Coach of the Year Paul Wehrum, the 17th-ranked Dutchmen won a program-record 12 games this season, earned their first Liberty League postseason berth and appeared in the program's first Liberty League title game.
