UTICA, NY – The Utica College men's lacrosse team opened up an early 4-1 lead against nationally-ranked No.18 Nazareth College but the Golden Flyers finished the first half with nine unanswered goals and never looked back in a 20-7 Empire 8 Conference victory at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.  Four different players tallied three points for the Pioneers including Ryan Desveaux (Bowmanville, ONT/St. Stephen Catholic), Matthew Miller (Geneva, NY/Geneva), Alex Finnegan (Bay Shore, NY/Islip) and Brickman House (Oneida, WI/Pulaski).

UC has now lost two of its last three games as its record moved to 2-9 overall and 1-3 in the Empire 8.  The nationally-ranked Golden Flyers, led by a 13 point effort from Luke Wooters, improved to 9-3 on the year and 4-1 in conference play.  Utica returns home next Wednesday when the Pioneers host nationally-ranked No. 20 Stevens Institute of Technology for E8 action at 4 p.m.

Utica senior goalie Andrew DiOrio (Greenlawn, NY/Harborfields) stopped a season-high 21 shots for the Pioneers, marking his most saves in a single game since April 15^th of last season when he stopped 23 shots against Stevens.

After falling into a 1-0 hole midway through the first quarter, the Pioneers rattled off four consecutive goals in a span of 8:52 to take a 4-1 lead in the contest with 11:08 to go in the first half. UC freshman Dominic Castiglia (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) netted his team-best 25^th goal of the season, assisted by Brickman House (Oneida, WI/Pulaski), at the 5:00 marker of the first quarter to tie the score at 1-1.  Senior Alex Finnegan (Bay Shore, NY/Islip) then added his eighth goal of the season just 1:50 later to give the Pioneers a 2-1 lead with 3:10 left in the first.  Miller assisted on Finnegan's only goal of the game. The Pioneers took a 3-1 lead when Desveaux added his 13^th goal of the year on a man-up opportunity, assisted by House, to give the Pioneers a two goal lead just 1:53 into the second quarter. Miller then completed the Pioneer rally with his seventh goal of the season to give Utica a 4-1 lead with 11:08 to go in the first half.

With 10:56 remaining on the first half clock, Nazareth began its comeback and netted the final nine goals of the half to take a 10-4 lead at the intermission. Troy Haefele led the Golden Flyer charge with three goals in the stretch, while Wooters posted four assists in less than 11 minutes. 

Nazareth outscored the Pioneers 5-1 in the third quarter to earn a 15-5 lead headed into the fourth. Finnegan connected with Desveaux for the lone Pioneer goal of the third quarter.

Naz then went on to outscore UC 5-2 in the fourth quarter to earn the 13 goal victory. Castiglia and Miller each netted a fourth quarter goal for the Pioneers to close out the scoring on the day.

Utica's Andrew DiOrio (Greenlawn, NY/Harborfields), Matt Werkmeister (Chaska, MN/Chaska), Tyler Nicolaus (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) and Rusty Dessert (Islip, NY/Islip) each added three caused turnovers for the Pioneers.  Werkmeister and Nicolaus each recorded five ground balls.

Seth DeLisle went 19-for-22 in the face-off circle and also scooped up 10 ground balls for Naz, while Luke Longo added seven ground balls of his own. Haefele finished the day with five goals and four assists for the Golden Flyers.

Naz outshot UC 58-26 on the day and earned a 25-4 advantage in face-off opportunities. The Golden Flyers also went 5-for-11 in man-up situations.