PITTSFORD, N.Y. – In a game that the lacrosse community will be talking about for years to come, the nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College men's lacrosse team fell to the defending national champion R.I.T. Tigers, 16-15, in a top-five showdown inside Growney Stadium on Wednesday night.  With the loss, Fisher, which is ranked fifth in the latest United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association poll, fell to 5-1 while the top-ranked Tigers remained unbeaten at 7-0.

The Cardinals shook off a slow first-half start that saw them trail 10-4 to begin the third period as Jordan Leuze broke through the Tigers' front line and found the back of the net to cut the gap to five with two minutes having ticked by.

From there, the two teams traded scores over the next five minutes until the Cardinals seized the momentum and scored five unanswered tallies to turn a five-goal deficit into a tie game with 4:37 remaining in the period.  With the score knotted at 12-12, the Cardinals continued to rally as Jack Mulvihill found Jordan Depetres in front to push the home team ahead by one.

With time winding down and the Cardinals clinging to a slim lead, RIT took advantage of a Fisher turnover and pushed the ball up the sideline before corralling a rebound and dumping it off into the net to level the game at 13 goals aside heading into the fourth quarter.

Deadlocked and with 15 minutes remaining in regulation, RIT turned aside a shot from Tucker O'Donnell and quickly flipped the field as the Tigers went up 14-13.  The lead was short-lived, however, as O'Donnell fired a pass across the field to Mulvihill who buried a man-up opportunity to draw even at 14-14.

All tied up and time ticking down, both defenses turned up the intensity as neither team was able to solve the other until the Tigers scored the go-ahead mark with 3:28 remaining in the game and tacked on an insurance goal two minutes later to open up a 16-14 edge.

Trailing by two, Fisher won the ensuing faceoff on a violation before Jacob Gallina sprinted his way through the Tigers' defense and uncorked a shot past the RIT keeper to trim the lead down to one with just over a minute still showing on the clock.

Momentum continued to swing in Fisher's direction as Joe Post won the final faceoff to set up one last offensive opportunity for the home team.  Down by one, Fisher worked its offense until it found the look it wanted as Nicholas Miller let loose a shot  with 11 seconds to go that the Tigers' keeper turned away to preserve the win.

Depetres finished with four goals to go along with eight shots while Ian Evans added two goals on 10 shots.  The senior finished with seven ground balls and three caused turnovers for Fisher while Miller was credited with three goals and an assist paired with four ground balls and a caused turnover.  Mulvihill had two goals and a helper while Leuze finished with two goals and an assist of his own.

Post was 23-for-32 at the faceoff X and scooped up a game-high 17 ground balls.

In goal, Ben Hammond moved to 5-1 after making 10 saves over 60 minutes.

The Cardinals are off until 12 p.m. on Saturday when they welcome No. 11 Amherst College to Growney Stadium in what will mark the team's fifth top-25 opponent in its first seven games.