CORTLAND, N.Y. – The nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College men's lacrosse team made all the right adjustments on Wednesday as the Cardinals overcame a halftime deficit en route to a 13-9 win over Cortland in a non-conference bout at Red Dragon Stadium. With the win, Fisher, which is ranked 12th in the latest United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association poll, pushed its winning streak to four games and closed out the day at 7-3 while Cortland, which is receiving votes in the same poll, slipped to 2-3 following the defeat.
Ian Evans led all scorers with five goals after taking a game-high 14 shots.
Jack Mulvihill produced two goals and assisted on three others while
Jordan Depetres finished with two points overall including a goal and an assist.
Nicholas Miller extended his program scoring record with two goals while
Brennan O'Brien,
Tucker O'Donnell and
Austin Jobson each found the back of the net once.
Senior
Joe Post was dominate at X for Fisher after the Canandaigua native won 20-of-25 faceoffs and corralled 17 ground balls in the win.
Roger Panara and
John Austin were credited with three ground balls apiece while
Joe Urlacher led the team with one caused turnover.
In goal,
Darin Eakins moved to 7-3 as the graduate student made 12 saves against nine goals.
After falling behind by a single goal at intermission, Fisher's deficit grew to two as Cortland scored just 63 seconds into the third period to hold a 6-4 edge. Trailing by a pair, Post won the ensuing faceoff and quickly pushed the ball up field as Depetres notched his 15th goal of the season after sneaking one past the Red Dragons' keeper to make it a one-goal affair.
Leading by one, Cortland answered on the other end to push its advantage back to two, but the Cardinals scored back-to-back tallies from Evans and Jobson to level the game at 7-7.
With the score tied midway through the frame, Cortland reclaimed the lead, but Fisher gained the upper hand as the Cardinals scored three of the final four goals of the period to take a 10-9 margin into the fourth period.
Ahead by one, Fisher turned to Miller who unloaded a shot into the back of the net with 11:57 remaining in the game to afford the visiting team some breathing room. From there, the Cardinals scored two more goals in a span of 1:02 to open up a four-goal cushion while the team's defense held Cortland off the board over the final 15 minutes to secure the win.
The Cardinals will look to remain atop the Empire 8 standings at 3 p.m. next Saturday when they head east down Interstate 90 to take on the Utica College Pioneers.
