The Utica College men's lacrosse team dominated play in the fourth quarter, outscoring host Ithaca 6-2 in the final 15 minutes, en route to a 9-5 win in Empire 8 Conference play Wednesday night. The victory marks the first time in program-history the Pioneers have defeated the Bombers. Utica has now won two straight games and remains in the hunt for its first-ever bid to the Empire 8 Conference Tournament.

The Pioneers improved to 3-7 overall and 1-2 in conference play, while the Bombers, who recently defeated nationally-ranked No. 17 RIT, dropped to 3-8 and 1-2 in the E8. The meeting marked the tenth time the two programs have played each other dating back to 2001.

Senior captain Michael Bulger led the way for the Pioneers with two goals and he now leads the team with 44 points on 30 goals and 14 assists this season. New Hartford's John Giordano added two goals, while Andrew Waite tallied two assists and one goal. Senior goalie Travis Wright stopped 17 shots in his third victory of the season.

The Pioneers never trailed the entire contest and jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first quarter, netting two goals just 1:31 apart. Senior captain Reed Reynolds opened the scoring on the day with 2:44 to go in the first quarter, before Waite added a goal 47 seconds later to put the Pioneers up by two.

Ithaca responded with two unanswered goals in the first half to knot the score at 2-2 headed into halftime.

Senior Corey Boulio opened the scoring in the second half to give Utica a 3-2 lead when he found the back of the net, unassisted, at 11:52 of the third quarter. Ithaca was able to tie the score at 3-3 before the fourth quarter.

Bulger set the tone for the fourth quarter by netting his two goals, 19 seconds apart, to give UC a 5-3 lead early in the final stanza.

Ithaca slipped a goal past Wright in the tenth minute to cut the UC lead to one, but that was as close as the Bombers would get. Utica rattled off four consecutive goals in the final 8:29 of play to seal the victory.

Senior Michael Brodhead netted his 15th of the season and Giordano added both of his goals late to cushion the Pioneer lead. Freshman Ben Winkler got in on the scoring with 40 seconds to go in the game as the Pioneers earned the key four goal victory.

UC returns to action Saturday when the Pioneers attempt to win their second straight conference game at Alfred University. The contest is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.

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