DiROCHESTER, NY – The No. 3 seeded Alfred University men's lacrosse team fell to No. 2 seeded St. John Fisher Cardinals, 15-9, Wednesday afternoon at Growney Stadium.
 
The Saxons (9-7, 5-2 Empire 8) were led offensively by first-year Cale Donegan (Corning, NY/Corning-Painted Post) with three goals while juniors Anthony Ricottilli (Cortland, NY/Cortland) and Joe Fornataro (Rochester, NY/Greece Athena) added two goals apiece. Senior Jake Lynch (Whitney Point, NY/Whitney Point) and sophomore Garrette Briggs (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads) chipped in with a goal each to round out the scoring for Alfred. Lynch, Fornataro, senior Samuel DiRisio (Yorktown, NY/ Penn Yan) and first-year Jeremiah Kinner (Bath, NY/Haverling) helped facilitate the offense, as they each had one assists.
 
AU found itself down 3-0 early in the first quarter before Fornataro and Ricottilli got on the board to make it 3-2. Fisher would get one more in goal as Andrew Rosso found the back of the net to make it 4-2 at the end of the first frame. The Saxons picked it up in the second quarter, scoring three unanswered goals to make it 5-4 with 8:40 as Fornataro scored his second goal. At the end of the first half, the score was 6-6 as Zach Wagner found the net with eight ticks left of the half.
 
The Saxons regained the lead at the start of the third as Donegan scored his third goal just :12 in the new frame.
 
Sophomore Shane Weber (Hull, MA/Hull) continued his dominance on defense as he scooped up nine ground balls. Briggs added five ground balls while Donegan grabbed three ground balls. Fornataro had a strong defensive presence, causing two turnovers.
 
"The guys played hard," said Head Coach Jason Lockner. "We just failed to answer Fishers run at the end. We did an excellent job in the face-off with [Garratte] Briggs and [Ian] Chedzoy. We ran out of gas near the end but I thought [Shane] Weber, [Cale] Donegan and [Anthony] Riccotilli played very well. [Drew] Gardner also played well in net.
 
The Saxons went a perfect 21-for-21 in clear attempts while Fisher went 22-for-25.
 
Briggs had another good day in the face-off circle, winning 12-of-21 attempts.
 
Senior goalkeeper Drew Gardner (Whitney Point, NY/Whitney Point) went the distance between the pipes, making 14 saves.
 
The Saxons end the season with a 9-7 overall record with a 5-2 record in the Empire 8.