The St. John Fisher College men's lacrosse team scored five goals in the final 9:42 of the first quarter to take a 6-2 lead after the opening period and never looked back, as the Cardinals closed out the regular season with a 17-8 win over visiting Utica College on Saturday.
 
With the win, Fisher improves to 11-4 overall and 5-2 in the Empire 8 Conference and clinches the final spot in next week's Empire 8 Conference Championship.   The Cardinals will be the No. 4 seed and will at Stevens Institute of Technology on Wednesday.  Fisher defeated Stevens 15-12 earlier this year.

Both teams scored two goals in the second quarter to give the Cardinals an 8-4 lead at the half.  Fisher pulled away in the third though, scoring five straight goals, including two (one from Kyle Denhoff and one from Ryan Freije) just 11 seconds apart.

Denhoff and Connor Henderson, both playing in their final home game, tallied five points.  Denhoff finished with four goals and one assist, while Henderson added three first-half goals and two second-half assists.

Bryan Dyer chipped in with a goal and two assists, while seniors Mike Byrnes (two assists) and Mitch Ritchie (one goal, one assist) both finished with two points.

Seniors Eric Klein and Kory Smart also scored a goal, as did Michael Boisvert, Greg Ramsden, Scott Campbell, Jimmy Burgasser and Pat D'Angelo.

Senior defensemen Andrew Knoblauch and Mitch Bailey both scooped up four ground balls.   Senior Clint Masterson won 8-of-16 faceoffs and totaled five ground balls.

Goalie Jamie Campagna made seven saves net to earn the win.  Kyle Semrau stopped two shots in less than three minutes in goal.