PITTSFORD, N.Y. – The St. John Fisher College men's lacrosse secured a spot in the Empire 8 Conference Championship with a 15-5 victory over Alfred University at Growney Stadium on Wednesday afternoon. With the win, Fisher improves to 13-2 overall and 6-1 in the conference standings, while the Saxons fall to 8-6 overall and 4-3 in Empire 8 play.

Zach Wagner and Jack Mulvihill led the Cardinal offense this afternoon as both tallied four goals, with six and five points respectively, while four others found the back of the net throughout the game.
Alfred was the first team on the scoreboard in the conference matchup as the Saxons opened the game's scoring at the 11:08 mark of the opening period.

From there, Fisher would register two goals in the first period of play to take an early lead as Ian Evans and Nicholas Miller continued add to their record-setting season totals.  

As the second period got underway, the Cardinals' goal scoring would continue as Wagner and Danny Turck added two-more goals to the Fisher lead with just over nine minutes remaining till halftime.

Following an answering goal from the Saxons at the 6:37 mark, Miller and Mulvihill once again found the back of the net, pushing the Cardinals ahead 6-2 as the first half concluded.

Mulvihill scored his second of the game to open the scoring for Fisher in the third period, with only 30 seconds coming off of the game clock, before the Cardinal lead was increased to five goals.

From there, Alfred battled its way back to within three as the Saxons scored twice in a matter of two minutes.

Chance Gates was the next Cardinal to join the score sheet as the senior tallied back-to-back goals in just 40 seconds for his 22nd and 23rd goals of the season, giving Fisher a 9-4 advantage midway through the third period.

Once again, Alfred was able to cut the Fisher lead back to four, however the Cardinals quickly answered with two more goals before the third quarter wrapped up as Mulvhill picked up his 25th and 26th of the season.

The fourth period of action was all Fisher as the Cardinals tacked on four goals over the final 15 minutes, while also shutting out the Saxons to close out their 13th victory of 2019. Wagner posted three of his four goals in the final period, while Gates capped of his hat-trick on the man-up advantage.

Darin Eakins was credited with his 11th victory of the season as the junior was fantastic between the pipes, finishing with 10 saves and two ground balls.

Defensively, the Cardinals shut-down the Saxons for the majority of the contest, causing 27 Alfred turnovers throughout the game. Joe Post finished 14-24 inside the faceoff circle, while also grabbing a game-high nine ground balls.

As a team, Fisher put 32 shots on goal in the conference matchup, while also finishing 20-24 on clear attempts and 3-8 on man-up opportunities.

The Cardinals return to action on Saturday at 1 p.m. when they travel to Sage to take on the Gators in their final regular season matchup of the season.