PITTSFORD, N.Y. – For the second time since 2019, the nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College men's lacrosse team claimed the Empire 8 Championship after the Cardinals, who are ranked 11th in the latest United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association poll, defeated second-seeded Nazareth College, 20-6, on Sunday afternoon inside Growney Stadium.  With the win, Fisher moved to 11-3 overall and will advance to the NCAA Division III Championship where it will compete for a national title.

Fisher will find out its postseason fate as the NCAA Selection Show is set to air at 9 p.m. on Sunday on NCAA.com.    

Senior Nicholas Miller was named the championship's Most Valuable Player after accounting for seven points in Sunday's win including four goals and three assists.  The Ithaca native also had five ground balls and caused one turnover in the win. 

Jack Mulvihill finished with three goals and an assist while Brennan O'Brien added three points on a pair of goals and one helper.  Ian Evans and Jordan Depetres each found the back of the net twice while Joe Post was credited with a goal and an assist on the offensive end of the field.

Post was 13-for-22 in the faceoff game and corralled two ground balls while Logan Grom and Christian LoCasto combined to go 5-for-7 from X.

It was all Fisher from the get-go as Evans staked the home team to a 1-0 lead after scoring his 38th goal of the year.  From there, the Cardinals found the back of the net four more times before a final second goal from Nazareth cut the deficit to three heading into the second period.

Leading 5-2, head coach Dave Dobbins' squad continued to fire on all cylinders with the Cardinals collecting four more goals to set up a 9-3 edge at the break.

Coming out of intermission, the Golden Flyers cut the gap to five with a goal just 75 seconds in, but Fisher reclaimed the momentum and extended its lead to eight after three straight goals including a tally from Austin Jobson opened up a 12-4 cushion.

Facing an uphill climb midway through the third quarter, Nazareth looked to push the pace and finished off back-to-back goals, but had no answer on the other end as the Cardinals rattled off three unanswered scores of their own to hold a 15-6 lead with 15 minutes remaining in the game.

Holding a significant margin, Fisher controlled the tempo in the fourth as Miller found Mulvihill for a man-up goal to make it 16-6.  From there, O'Donnell beat the Golden Flyers' keeper before Jacob Gallina paired up with Jacob Risavi on a goal and an 18-6 advantage.

With time running out, Fisher buried two more goals including another man-up tally to earn the Empire 8's automatic berth into next weekend's championship field.

Darin Eakins moved to 11-3 in goal for Fisher after the graduate student made eight saves over 60 minutes between the pipes.  Defensively, the Cardinals, who did not allow a goal in the fourth quarter, finished with 11 caused turnovers and limited Nazareth to just 23 shots in all.