The St. John Fisher College men's lacrosse program rallied from a 6-1 deficit, thanks to an 8-1 run over the final 37 minutes, and came away with a 9-7 win over host Alfred University on Saturday.  With the win, Fisher finishes the regular season with an 8-8 overall record, but more importantly, the victory raises the team's record to 5-3 in the Empire 8 Conference and locks up the No. 4 seed for the Empire 8 Conference Championship.

Fisher will travel to top-seeded Ithaca College, the nation's No. 2 ranked team, and will play the Bombers at 4 p.m. on Wednesday.  The winner of Wednesday's game will advance to Saturday's Empire 8 title game.
 
With the loss, Alfred falls to 10-5, 4-4.  Saturday's game was the first time all season an opponent held the Saxons to single-digit goals.

Fisher fell behind early as Alfred scored three goals in the first five minutes and led 6-1 midway through the second quarter.  The Cardinals, however, rallied late in the second quarter, scoring the final four goals, including three in the final four minutes of the half.

Alfred pushed its lead to 7-5 less than four minutes into the second half, but wouldn't find the back of the net after that.  Nick Papayanakos scored to make it a one-goal game with five minutes left in the third and senior Matthew Condon tied the game at 7s with seven seconds left in the quarter.

Senior Gary Bova scored the game-winning with seven minutes left and Papayanakos iced the win, tallying his third goal of the game with 31 seconds left.

Tanner Swan finished the game with 14 saves, including six in the critical fourth quarter. 

Papayanakos led Fisher with three goals, while Condon added two.   Drew Brown, Andrew Rosso and Zach Wagner also scored in the win, while freshman Danny Turck notched on assist.
 
Ricky Barton and Papayanakos each scooped up four ground balls, while Benjamin Stallman was formidable at the X, winning 11-of-20 faceoffs.