The St. John Fisher College men's lacrosse team is heading to the postseason for the second straight year.

 

The Cardinals (9-4 overall) are the No. 4 seed for the Empire 8 Conference Championship and will face host Ithaca College at 4 p.m. on Friday in the semifinals.  The winner of Friday’s game will play the winner of No. 3 Nazareth College vs. No. 2 Rochester Institute of Technology on Sunday at the highest remaining seed.

Tickets for Friday’s game are $4 for adults and $2 for students.

 

Fisher, who hosts Nazareth at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, is coming off a 12-9 loss to host Utica College on Saturday, marking just the second loss in the last nine games.

 

Fisher, who trailed 6-5 at intermission, took the lead early in the third quarter on goals from Mike Cortina (Binghamton/Binghamton) and Matt Kaiser (Waterloo/Waterloo), but the Pioneers went on a 5-0 run to take command.

 

Matt Hargather (Fairport/Fairport) led the Cardinals with three goals.  Cortina finished with two goals, while Dave Malone (Penfield/Penfield) and Zack Zazzara (Fayettville-Manlius/Syracuse) each finished with two assists.

 

Chris Schmidt (West Genesee/Camillus), Michael-Paul Salomon (West Genesee/Camillus) and Dennis Bell (Penfield/Rochester) also scored for Fisher.

 

Brian Cummings (West Genesee/Camillus) stopped 10 shots in 60 minutes of action, while Dave Wood (Vestal/Vestal) won 11 face-offs and added nine ground balls.