CORTLAND, N.Y. – The Cortland men's lacrosse team held the Nazareth high-powered offense scoreless for a stretch of 28 minutes, 54 seconds spanning the first to third quarters in earning a 17-9 victory in non-conference action Tuesday afternoon at the Stadium Complex. The Red Dragons improved to 5-6, while the Golden Flyers fell to 3-7.

Senior Dante Yacavone (Homer) led the Cortland offense with a season-high eight points on four goals and four assists. Senior Pat Doyen (Miller Place) finished with six points on three goals and three assists, graduate student Brandon Stiles (Mastic/Eastport-South Manor) also netted three goals and senior Troy Morris (Long Beach) tallied a goal and two assists. Graduate student Zak Jones (East Quogue/Westhampton Beach), juniors Tyler Starrett (Redding, CT/Joel Barlow) and Austin Palmer (Hamburg/St. Francis) and freshmen Ryan Scanlon (Cornelius, NC/William Amos Hough), Klay Stuver (Fairport) and Joe DeLany (Camillus/West Genesee) each scored a goal, while senior Christopher Dovi (Cortland) collected three assists.

Sophomore goalie Travis Wagner (Penfield) matched his season high with 17 saves in 55:58 for the Red Dragons. Junior Matt Stento (Bethlehem) stopped one shot over the final 4:02. Freshman Owen Neubauer (Monroe-Monroe-Woodbury) won 11-of-20 faceoffs and scooped up three ground balls. Stiles and Dovi each secured four ground balls, and graduate student Jacob Rivers (Homer) and junior Jake Smeader (Hamburg) contributed two ground balls and two caused turnovers.

Senior Braeden McKercher (Lake Mary, FL) paced the Nazareth offense with three goals. Senior Jon Roth (Honeoye Falls/Honeoye Falls-Lima) recorded two goals and an assist and graduate student Brett Randall (Rochester/Brighton) scored a team-high four points on one goal and three assists. Juniors Max Popolizio (Croton-on-Hudson/Hendrick Hudson) and Greg Bilek (Loveland, CO) and sophomore Quinn McKercher (Lake Mary, FL) each netted a goal.

Senior goalie Eric Almquist (Wakefield, MA/Malden Catholic) made 17 saves in 59:29. Freshman Cam Pilon (Deep River, CT/Loomis Chaffee) did not stop a shot in 31 seconds when he replaced Almquist in goal after the starter took a penalty in the third quarter. Freshman Matt Keane (Orchard Park) won 15-of-29 faceoffs and finished with a game-high nine ground balls.

Cortland took a 3-2 lead after the first quarter as Yacavone scored twice. The Red Dragons then outscored the Golden Flyers, 3-0 in the second quarter on goals from three different players for a 6-2 lead at the half. Stiles, Jones and Doyen opened the third quarter with goals in just over a three-minute span to push Cortland's lead to 9-2. Bilek ended the Nazareth scoring drought with a man-up goal at 9:29. The Red Dragons answered with three of the next four goals to build a commanding 12-4 lead after 45 minutes of play.

The teams combined for 10 goals in the fourth quarter, each scoring five. Stiles scored 56 seconds into the quarter before Braeden McKercher and Randall netted goals to make it a 13-6 game with 7:03 remaining. Cortland put the game away with a four-goal run to increase its lead to 17-6 before the Golden Flyers closed the game with the last three goals for the 17-9 final.

Cortland 17, Nazareth 9

GAME SUMMARY:

Team                 1-2-3-4  Final
Nazareth            2-0-2-5      9
Cortland             3-3-6-5    17

Scoring (Goals-Assists):
Nazareth: Braeden McKercher 3-0, Jon Roth 2-1, Brett Randall 1-3, Quinn McKercher 1-0, Max Popolizio 1-0, Greg Bilek 1-0, Jeremy Jacob 0-1, Owen Riley 0-1
Cortland: Dante Yacavone 4-4, Pat Doyen 3-3, Brandon Stiles 3-0, Troy Morris 1-2, Zak Jones 1-0, Ryan Scanlon 1-0, Austin Palmer 1-0, Klay Stuver 1-0, Tyler Starrett 1-0, Joe DeLany 1-0, Christopher Dovi 0-3

Goalkeepers:
Nazareth: Eric Almquist, 17 saves (16 GA in 59:29), Cam Pilon, 0 saves (1 GA in :31)
Cortland: Travis Wagner, 17 saves (6 GA in 55:58), Matt Stento, 1 save (3 GA in 4:02)

Shots: Cortland 57, Nazareth 45
Ground Balls: Cortland 38, Nazareth 35
Turnovers: Nazareth 20, Cortland 14
Caused Turnovers: Cortland 8, Nazareth 5
Clears: Cortland 19-of-22, Nazareth 17-of-23
Faceoffs Won: Cortland 15, Nazareth 15
Penalties: Cortland 8-6:00, Nazareth 4-3:30
Extra-Man Offense: Nazareth 4-7, Cortland 2-4

Records after game: Cortland (Red Dragons) 5-6, Nazareth (Golden Flyers) 3-7