CLEARWATER, Fla. – The St. John Fisher College men's lacrosse team improved its record to 3-0 overall on the season on Thursday afternoon as the Cardinals took down Misericordia University by a score of 16-10 in their first game in the Sunshine State. As Fisher moves to 3-0 in 2019, the Cougars fall to 2-1 overall after the defeat.

Nine different Cardinals were able to find the back of the net throughout the game, while goalkeeper Darin Eakins notched his third win of the season after finishing with 10 saves in the victory.

Misericordia opened the scoring at the 10:41 mark of the first quarter, but Fisher had a quick answer as Tucker O'Donnell and Danny Turck pushed the Cardinals ahead 2-1.

From there, the Cougars were able to score the games' next three goals and take a 4-2 advantage late in the first quarter. Nicholas Miller brought Fisher back to within one before the first quarter ended as the sophomore started his five-goal day, with 1:11 remaining in the opening quarter.

The Cardinal offense caught fire as the second quarter got underway as Miller started a four-goal scoring run at the 13:36 mark. Millers followed his second goal with his hat-trick tally, which was then followed by two goals from the two-time reigning Empire 8 Conference Player of the Week, Ian Evans.

At the 3:07 mark of the second, Misericordia cut the Fisher lead back to two, however a rocket from Jordan Depetres pushed the Cardinals lead back to three just before the halftime break.

Fisher's offense continued its dominant play as the third quarter started as the Cardinals posted seven goals in the quarter, while the defense held the Cougars to only two. Helping push the Fisher lead to 15-6 heading into the final quarter was Miller, Turck, Jack Mulvihill, Chance Gates, Roger Panara, and Austin Jobson.

Despite Misericordia scoring three goals in the final 15-minute quarter and Fisher was held to a lone Miller goal, the Cardinals remained in control and held on for its third consecutive victory of the season.

Joe Post led the way in the faceoff circle once again as the sophomore finished 19-28 inside the circle and grabbed a game-high 14 ground balls. Defensively, Fisher was led by Panara who caused two turnovers and Matt Jeffries who grabbed five ground balls.

As a team, Fisher finished 19 of 22 on clear attempts throughout the game, while connecting on one of two of its extra-man opportunities.

The Cardinals return to the field in Florida on Saturday at 12 p.m. when they take on Clark University in another non-conference matchup.