BOX SCORE

The nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College women's lacrosse team jumped out to an early lead, but hit a lull in the second half falling 9-7 to arch rival Ithaca College, as Fisher suffered its first loss of the season.  Fisher and Ithaca have met in the last two Empire 8 Championship games with the Cardinals coming out on top on both occasions.

The No. 11 Cardinals dip to 5-1 on the season, while Ithaca, the preseason favorite to win the Empire 8, moves to 2-4 with the win.

The Cardinals jumped out of the gates early scoring the games first four goals to take a 4-0 lead less than 10 minutes into the contest.  Lindsey Shoales continued her stellar play netting the Cardinals first goal of the game.

Less than five minutes later, Jordan Johnson and Samantha Barton pushed Fisher's lead to 3-0 with back-to-back tallies just :46 seconds apart.  Jill Zerrillo capped the run for Fisher before Ithaca scored its first goal of the game midway through the first half.

Kristina Lombard answered right back to push the Cardinals lead back up to five.  

Fisher's offense would slow, however, late in the opening frame with Ithaca netting three of the game's final four goals to cut the Cardinals' lead to just 6-4 at the break.

Ithaca kept its momentum from the first half, scoring in the opening minute of the second half to draw to within one.  

Barton netted her second of the game on a man-up opportunity nearly eight minutes later to push Fisher's lead to 7-5 but the Cardinals would not score another goal over the final 21 minutes.  

Ithaca eventually evened then game at seven just three minutes later and scored two more goals before the midway point to seal the victory.  Neither team scored a goal over the final 16:16 of the game.

Taylor Hughes finished with three assists for Fisher.

Fisher is back in action at 5 p.m. on Tuesday when it travels to SUNY Fredonia.