Syracuse, N.Y. – The Onondaga Community College men's lacrosse team returns to the NJCAA National Championship game tomorrow after an 11-5 victory over CCBC Essex Saturday afternoon at David W. Murphy Field in the national semifinal game. Sophomore midfielder Kyle Killen led all scorers with five points on four goals and one assist.

The Lazers jumped out to a slow start trailing 1-0 after the first quarter of play. Raphael Vargas scored the first quarter's lone goal at the 10:22 mark with help from Blake McDonald.

Onondaga would heat up in the second quarter scoring the games next six goals. Teiowison'tion (Brine) Rice tallied Onondaga's first goal just 31 seconds into the second quarter with help from Killen. Just about a minute later at the 13:25 mark, Thomas McNaney would come off a Killen screen on the left side and zip one past the Knights goalie to give Onondaga a 2-1 lead. Killen would follow suit with his first of four goals on the afternoon at the 10:26 mark with an assist from Rice. After a CCBC Essex timeout, Thomas Koster would score an unassisted goal with 9:44 left to play in the half. About three minutes later with 6:54 left to play in the opening half, Killen would score a no-look man-up goal with his back to the goalie off a pass from Larson Sundown. Exactly one minute later (5:54) Cam Horn would come from behind the Knights net to score making it 6-1 in favor of the Lazers. CCBC Essex would tally a late goal as Dylan Dooley found the back of the net off an assist from Brandyn O'Connell at the 4:46 mark.

The Knights clawed back to score the game's first two goals of the third quarter with goals from O'Connell and Derek Taylor cutting the lead to 6-4. After a check to jar the ball loose by Nicholas Koelmel, Daniel Ohrem would score on the other side off a nice feed from Matthew Bennett with 54 seconds to play in the third. O'Connell would add a goal for the CCBC Essex with just 26 seconds left to play to make it a 7-5 game heading into the fourth quarter.

Onondaga would do all the scoring in the fourth quarter with four goals. Killen added his third goal of the game with 12:45 left to play and then Samuel Watts recorded a goal with help from Bennett just ten seconds later at 12:35. With 6:20 left on the clock, Killen would book his fourth and final goal of the game off a McNaney feed to push Onondaga's lead to 10-5. The final goal of the game came from McNaney as Bennett found him wide open in the middle of the field.

Sophomore goalie Holden McDonald recorded 11 saves on 41 shots (16 on goal).

Onondaga (13-1) will face NJCAA Region III foe Genesee Community College for the national championship on Sunday at 1 p.m. at David W. Murphy field on the campus of Onondaga Community College. Genesee upset top-ranked Nassau Community College 8-7 in the days first NJCAA National Semifinal matchup on a goal with 4.7 seconds left in the game. The Lazers look for their eighth straight national championship and 10th overall.