The St. John Fisher College men's lacrosse program nearly knocked off one of the nation's top teams for the second straight week on Wednesday.   The Cardinals led No. 10 Ithaca College 6-3 going into the third quarter, but the Bombers rallied in the second half to  pull out an 11-9 win over host Fisher in an Empire 8 Conference matchup.

With the loss, Fisher falls to 3-3 overall and 0-1 in the Empire 8, while Ithaca improves to 7-1, 2-0.  Last Wednesday, Fisher battled Rochester Institute of Technology, the nation's No. 1 ranked team to a tie for the first three quarters before the Tigers rallied in the fourth quarter to squeak out a 10-6 win.

"It's a little frustrating because we know we are right there and we're just one or two plays away from maybe winning both of those games," said head coach  John Johnson.  "Hopefully we can learn from our experiences and continue to improve as the season goes on."

Ithaca scored a man-up goal just 30 seconds into the game and led 3-1 just 5:27 into the game.

Fisher's Gary Bova scored back-to-back goals 39 seconds apart to even the game at 3 goals apiece with 7:38 left in the first.

Fisher then scored three goals in a 33-second span to take a 6-3 lead late in the first quarter.  Brett Farrell gave Fisher a 5-3 lead and just 10 seconds later, Drew Brown scored his second goal of the year off a pass from Bova.   Kevin DeOrdio scored with 1:23 left in the quarter to make it 6-3.

After a scoreless second quarter, the Bombers ended their nearly 29-minute scoring drought just under four minutes into the third quarter.  Fisher's Greg Ramsden scored to make it 7-5 with 7:51 left in the quarter, but the Bombers would tie it up at 7-7 less than two minutes later.

Ithaca took the lead at 8-7 with 13:19 left in the game, but Fisher's Jeff Wester tied the game up at 8-8 with just under 10 minutes left.   Fisher, however, wouldn't get any closer.  Ithaca scores the game's next three goals before Ramsden scored with 1:02 for the game's final goal.

Goalie Jamie Campagna stopped 10 shots.  Paul Cefalu was 11-for-23 on faceoffs and led Fisher with seven ground balls. Mike Blood and Taylor Muztafago both caused two turnovers.  Wester and Bova led Fisher offensively with three points each.

Fisher will return to action at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Hartwick College.