PITTSFORD, N.Y. – The nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College men's lacrosse team celebrated its senior class with a convincing 20-9 win over rival Nazareth College on Saturday in an Empire 8 pairing inside Growney Stadium.  With the win, Fisher, which is ranked 11th in the latest United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association poll, improved to 8-3 on the year and 2-0 in the conference while the Golden Flyers fell to 3-6, 2-1, respectively.

After shrugging off a slow start, the Cardinals erased a four-goal deficit and closed out the second period with three unanswered goals from Nicholas Miller, Tucker O'Donnell and Brennan O'Brien to knot things up at 6-6 heading into the halftime break.

Coming out intermission, Nazareth jumped back ahead, but was unable to match Fisher's production on the offensive end of the field with the Cardinals scoring five straight goals to close out the quarter including two apiece from O'Brien and Jordan Depetres to take an 11-7 cushion into the fourth.

With just 15 minutes remaining in the game, the Cardinals continued to fire on all cylinders as head coach Dave Dobbins' squad rattled off back-to-back goals in a span of 62 seconds to push its lead to six, with 13:24 still showing on the clock.

The Golden Flyers cut the gap to five with a goal at the 12:48 mark of the fourth, but Jack Mulvihill and Austin Jobson each found the back of the net over the next 53 seconds to extend the margin to seven, 15-8.

After swapping tallies over the next four minutes, Fisher went on a flurry over the final two minutes with four consecutive goals including three in a stretch of 16 seconds to close out the game and vault ahead of the Golden Flyers in the conference standings.

O'Donnell led Fisher with six points in the win including two goals and four assists while Ian Evans finished with three goals and two dimes of his own along with three ground balls.  Mulvihill contributed five points at midfield while O'Brien found the back of the net four times in all.  Depetres, Jobson and Miller each scored twice.

In goal, Darin Eakins moved to 8-3 following the win as the graduate student allowed nine goals over nearly 58 minutes and finished with eight saves.
  
Fisher dominated in the faceoff game with Joe Post going 22-for-25 with a game-high 12 ground balls.  Logan Grom was 3-for-4 in the win while Christian Locasto won two of his four attempts.

Fisher will go for its ninth win of the year at 4 p.m. on Wednesday when it travels to Alfred University to take on the Saxons in another Empire 8 showdown.