BOX SCORE

The St.  John Fisher College men's lacrosse team jumped out to a 2-1 lead against nationally-ranked Nazareth College, but the Golden Flyers answered with seven straight to close out the first half and held on for a 13-8 win over the Cardinals in the rain and wind at Growney Stadium.

Despite the loss, Fisher (10-5 overall, 3-3 Empire 8) still controls its own destiny.  The winner of Saturday's Fisher at Utica College (8-6, 3-3) game will earn the No. 4 seed in the Empire 8 Conference Championship and will play at top-seeded Nazareth College next Wednesday.

Nazareth (11-4, 6-0) jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the opening minute, but Fisher scored two straight to take the lead. Bryan Dyer scored off a pass from Greg Ramsden with 11:18 left in the first, while Jeff Wester scored a wide-open goal with Michael Boisvert assisting on the play.

Wester led Fisher on the day with four points on three goals and two assists. Brett Farrell tallied three points on one goal and two assists, while Ramsden and Boisvert each finished with two points on one goal and one assist. Nick Rossi also scored for the Cardinals.

Jamie Campagna made eight saves over the first three quarters, while M.P. Joseph stopped one shot in the fourth.

Fisher finished the game with a 17-to-8 advantage in face-offs won and were fairly-even (Nazareth 31, Fisher 27) in the ground ball category.  The Cardinals, however,  committed 26 turnovers and were just 15-of-23 on clear attempts.

Ryan Freije took all the faceoffs for Fisher and led the team with 10 ground balls.