| 4/14/2007 6:32:09 PM
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ROCHESTER, NY – Kyle Purcell scored with 1:48 left in overtime, as the #2 RIT men’s lacrosse team (10-2, 3-2 Empire 8) dropped its second game in four days, falling to #7 Nazareth College 13-12 on Saturday afternoon before a crowd of 1,300 fans at the RIT Field.
Purcell picked up a groundball off a RIT turnover in the Nazareth zone and went coast-to-coast, beating RIT goalkeeper John Foley (Arthur, ON/Our Lady of Lourdes) (Arthur, ON/Our Lady of Lourdes) cleanly from about eight yards out. The goal was Purcell’s first of the season.
RIT rallied from a 10-6 third quarter deficit and led 12-11 late in regulation. Nazareth tied the game with 32 seconds left, as Kevin Kimball took a feed from Erinn O’Hara from 15 yards out and drilled a high shot past Foley to tie the game.
The Tigers won the ensuing face-off and had an opportunity to end the game in regulation, but could not get a shot off before time expired.
Nazareth won the opening face-off in overtime and Kimball tried a similar shot to the one that tied the game. This time, Foley was up to the task and made the save.
RIT gained possession and had the ball in the Nazareth zone, but turned it over, leading to Purcell’s game-winning tally.
Wes Adam (Lafayette, NY/Lafayette) (Lafayette, NY/Lafayette) gave RIT a 1-0 lead just 1:05 into the game. Nazareth struck back with four straight to take a 4-1 lead early in the second quarter.
Scott Farress (Webster, NY/Webster Schroeder) (Webster, NY/Webster) and Trevor Hoselton (Skaneateles, NY/Skaneateles) scored two goals each in the second quarter to cut the Golden Flyer lead to 6-5. However, Ryan Hotaling and Kimball scored in the final five minutes of the quarter to give Nazareth an 8-5 halftime lead.
Nazareth went up 10-6 with 12:08 left in the third quarter on goals by Brian Lissner and Chad Amidon sandwiched around a Tiger goal by Dave Demuth (Jordan, NY/Jordan-Elbridge) (Jordan, NY/Jordan-Elbridge).
The Tigers, also down 10-6 in the third quarter of last season’s regular season win at Nazareth, made a furious comeback, tying the game at 10 before the quarter ended. Eric Pritchard (Webster, NY/Webster Schroeder) (Webster, NY/Webster) scored two times during the run, while Farress and Demuth tallied as well.
The Tigers took an 11-10 lead on an own goal by the Golden Flyers. Ryan Conley scooped up the ground ball off an RIT turnover. He went to pass the ball back to his goalie but threw the ball right into his own net, giving the Tigers an 11-10 lead.
Senior Jacob Brunner (Lafayette, NY/Lafayette) (Lafayette, NY/Lafayette) was 19-for-29 on face-offs and grabbed a game-high 11 ground balls for the Tigers. Nicholas Dalton (Webster, NY/Webster Thomas) (Webster, NY/Webster Thomas) tallied six ground balls.
Farress and Demuth had three goals each. Hoselton had two goals and two assists.
For Nazareth, Hotaling finished with three goals and two assists. O’Hara tallied two goals and two assists, while Amidon and Kimball each found the back of the net twice.
The Golden Flyers improve to 11-1 and 5-0 in Empire 8 play.
RIT out-shot Nazareth 39-36. Nazareth had 47 ground balls to RIT’s 43.
Foley made 13 saves for RIT. Patrick Mullin made 11 stops for Nazareth.
The loss snapped a three-game winning streak by RIT over Nazareth. The Tigers have now lost two straight after opening the season with a 10-0 mark.
The Tigers are back in action on Monday, as they travel to SUNY Oswego to play the Lakers in a non-conference contest. Face-off is at 4 p.m.
