ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Two of the top programs in Division III met on Wednesday night as the No. 12 St. John Fisher College men's lacrosse team suffered its first loss of the season, 19-11, at the hands of the top-ranked Rochester Institute of Technology Tigers in a non-conference showdown at RIT's Turf Field.  With the defeat, Fisher fell to 3-1 overall while the Tigers wrapped up the day at 2-0.

After falling behind 6-0 with two minutes gone by in the second quarter, Fisher found its footing and quickly turned things around after producing six unanswered goals of its own to knot things up at 6-6.

Jacob Gallina got the Cardinals on the board with an unassisted tally at 9:22 before Jack Mulvihill found Tucker O'Donnell in front of the cage to make it 6-2.  From there, Nicholas Miller blew one past RIT's keeper to cut it to a three-goal deficit before Gallina netted his second of the night and staked the Cardinals to a man-up opportunity as RIT was flagged on the play.

Facing a two-goal gap and holding a man advantage, Fisher worked the ball around the cage until Ian Evans hit Miller on the wing for his second goal in 90 seconds to make it 6-5 in the home team's favor.

With momentum favoring the Cardinals, Joe Post won the ensuing faceoff and quickly advanced the ball.  After testing the Tigers' defense, Evans whipped a pass to Jordan Depetres who uncorked a shot into the back of the net to tie the game at 6-6 with 5:21 remaining in the half.

As the second period wore on and halftime approached, the tide turned in RIT's direction with the Tigers scoring four straight goals in a span of three minutes to hold a 10-6 edge at intermission.

Coming out of the break, Fisher looked to push the pace with four shots in 60 seconds including a goal from Mulvihill that pulled the visitors to within three.

Holding a 10-7 lead, RIT extended its lead to eight after netting five consecutive goals, but Fisher continued to hang around as the Cardinals answered with three quick goals of their own including a highlight reel no-look goal from Evans to head to the fourth quarter down, 15-10.

As the final period got underway, both teams traded goals as the margin remained at five with under 10 minutes to play, but Fisher was unable to match the Tigers' pace as RIT scored the game's final three goals to remain unbeaten.

Miller, who became the second player in program history to surpass 200 career points on Wednesday, led Fisher with three goals and an assist.  Miller now needs just four goals and 24 points to become Fisher's all-time in both categories.  Evans finished with three points including a goal and two helpers.  Matt Jeffries found the back of the net once while John Austin caused two turnovers on the defensive end of the field. 

Post was 18-for-31 at the faceoff X and corralled a team-high eight ground balls.  The Canandaigua native become the program's all-time leader in faceoff wins with 745 after passing hall-of-famer Dave Wood's mark of 739.

In goal, Darin Eakins (3-1), who was named the Empire 8 Goalie of the Week on Monday, finished with nine saves on the night.

The Cardinals continue their gauntlet of a schedule at 12 p.m. on Saturday when they travel to Canton to take on No. 16 St. Lawrence.