Box Score Box | Cumulative stats
PITTSFORD, N.Y. -- Visiting third-seeded Nazareth allowed second-seeded St. John Fisher six goals in the third quarter, which the Cardinals used to change a 5-3 deficit into a 9-6 lead going into the fourth quarter. The Golden Flyers answered with a trio of goals in the opening 3:34 of the fourth to tie the game. Fisher answered with the next two goals and held off Nazareth's final rally attempt in the closing minutes of regulation to advance to the Empire 8 Championship game with the 11-10 win. Senior Collin Clark finished with three goals to lead the Golden Flyers' attack, which also gives him 100 goals in his career at Nazareth.

With the loss, the Golden Flyers close their season with an 8-10 overall record. Nazareth holds an 11-3 overall record against Fisher, but suffered two one-goal losses to the Cardinals in the last four days. Fisher edged Nazareth in the final regular season game on Saturday, April 26th. With the victory, the Cardinals have won their last eight contests and improve to 12-4 overall. In the conference championship, Fisher will play 16th-ranked and top-seeded Ithaca, who defeated fourth-seeded Stevens 9-7 on Wednesday.

Following the Cardinals' 6-1 third-quarter scoring run, Clark scored just 38 seconds into the fourth to cut Nazareth's deficit to two goals. Clark trimmed Fisher's lead to one goal with 12:42 to play when he buried a shot into the back of the Cardinals' net after receiving a pass from classmate Brian Wright. The goal was Clark's 100th of his career. Clark is the 13th player in Nazareth lacrosse history to amass 100 goals. Only 1:16 later, Wright scored an unassisted goal as he beat a pair of Fisher defenders from behind the goal and scored from coming around the left side of the net.

Wright also drew a penalty on his game-tying tally to continue Nazareth's momentum, but on the ensuing man-up chance, sophomore Matt O'Neill's shot went wide and Clark's was blocked. On the same possession but after Cardinals' the penalty expired, sophomore Troy Haefele rang an attempt off the post before sending a shot wide.

The Cardinals' seized the momentum back on the following possession as the Golden Flyers were whistled for an offsides penalty and a delay of game penalty on senior Jonathan VanOrden. With the two-man advantage, Fisher passed around Nazareth's defensive zone before Gary Bova scored with 6:37 remaining. The 30-second penalties expired just seconds before Bova's go-ahead goal and before Nazareth's defenders were able to join the play. Just over four minutes later, the Cardinals' Nick Rossi scored the eventual game-winning goal as he cut toward the goal from the top of the box and received a pass from Brett Farrell, who ran up the right side of Nazareth's goal from behind the net.

With 1:13 remaining in the stanza, Troy Haefele cut the score to 11-10 with a diving shot from the left side of the slot after receiving a pass from classmate Luke Wooters. To set up the scoring chance, Wooters collected the ground ball behind Fisher's goal following a wide shot by freshman Nick Arnold. Wooters beat a defender to the loose ball then made a dodge to find a passing lane to Haefele.

Nazareth won the ensuing faceoff thanks to the effort of junior Drew Simoneau. As the Cardinals' midfielder was about to collect the ball, Simoneau lunged to knock the ball away. Senior Trevar Haefele ended up with the ground ball, which allowed the Golden Flyers to call timeout to set up their attack for the final 63 seconds. Simoneau won all seven of the fourth quarter faceoffs and finished winning 16 of 24 for the game.

After Nazareth's timeout, Clark's shot, with 51 seconds to play, was wide. Fisher's defense tightened and forced the Golden Flyers to use valuable seconds trying to set up a scoring opportunity. Clark's second shot of the series, with four seconds remaining, was also wide. Nazareth had possession after Clark's shot, but was unable to get off another attempt.

The Golden Flyers had a pair of two-goal leads in the first half. After Fisher's Greg Ramsden opened the scoring, Nazareth responded with the next three goals spanning the final 9:20 of the first and 23 seconds of the second to take a 3-1 lead. Troy Haefele used a pass from Wright to put the Golden Flyers on the board, which was followed by an unassisted goal by Wooters with 4:55 to play in the first. Clark's man-up goal in the first minute of the second extended Nazareth's lead. Wright earned the assist. Following a pair of goals by the Cardinals' Tim Wagner, Nazareth bounced back with the next two goals to take a 5-3 lead to close the half. Wooters scored on a man-up opportunity after collecting a pass from Clark, then Arnold tallied an unassisted goal with 2:43 to play in the period.

In Fisher's six-goal third quarter, Ramsden started the run and added another goal midway through the quarter. Farrell also had a pair of goals while Jeff Wester and Wagner each added one goal. With 4:57 to play in the quarter, junior Will Fallo joined Nazareth's man-up unit and passed to Wright to trim the Golden Flyers' deficit to 9-8.

In their rally attempt, the Golden Flyers finished with a 49-19 advantage in total shots and a 25-12 advantage in ground balls collected. In addition to winning 16 faceoffs, Simoneau also collected a game-high 14 ground balls, two more than Fisher collected as a team. Simoneau entered the game ranked first in Division III with an average of 12.65 ground balls per game. Simoneau also entered the game ranked 10th nationally in faceoff winning percentage of .679. After scoring on two of its first four man-up opportunities in the first half, Nazareth converted two of seven opportunities in the second half. Fisher was credited with going one of six on the man-up.

The Cardinals' goalie, Jamie Campagna, made a game-high 13 saves, including nine in the second half to secure the victory. Sophomore Scott Brown finished with four saves for Nazareth.

The Golden Flyers' 8-10 record is only the second time Nazareth has finished a season below .500. The Golden Flyers had a similar record in 2012 as they finished 8-9. Nazareth's 2014 opponents included several nationally ranked teams including top-ranked RIT, third-ranked Stevenson, fifth-ranked Cabrini, eighth-ranked Cortland, and 10th-ranked Lynchburg.