In a tight, defensive game, nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College outscored the Clarkson University Lacrosse team 6-2 in the fourth quarter to pull out a 9-6 victory on the road in non-league play at Hantz Turf Field on Saturday afternoon.

The Golden Knights, who suffered their first loss of the season, lead throughout the majority of the contest, holding a 1-0 advantage after the first quarter and a 2-1 margin through the half. Clarkson built its lead to three goals with a pair on man-up scores by sophomore Matt McCabe (Syracuse, NY) and senior Tyler Long (Liverpool, NY) early in the third quarter to go on top 4-1.

St. John Fisher, ranked 21st in the national poll, answered back, however, with eight of the last 10 goals to gain the win, improving its record to 4-0.

The Cardinals started their rally with a pair of goals 12 seconds apart by Mitch Ritchie with eight minutes to play in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 4-3 after 45 minutes. Connor Henderson and Jeff Wester tallied early in the fourth frame to give the visitors their first lead of the game, at 5-4.

Junior Matt Cyr (Cheshire, CT) and Long sandwiched a pair of Clarkson goals around a scored by St. John Fisher’s Eric Klein to make it a 6-6 game with just under six minutes to play.

The Cardinals, however, continued their offensive pressure and Ryan Schmidt scored the game-winning goal with 4:44 remaining. Kyle Denhoff sealed the road victory for St. John Fisher with the game’s final two goals.

Long paced the Green and Gold offense with two goals. McCabe and junior Bryan Huff (Hillsborough, NJ) both tallied one goal and one assist. Cyr and grad student Mike Fowler (Modena, NY) accounted for the other Clarkson goals.

The Cardinals’ Ritchie led all scorers with three goals and four points.

St. John Fisher outshot the Knights 49-29 and held a 30-20 advantage in groundballs.

Sophomore Ryan Cole (Orchard Park, NY) made 16 saves, including eight stops in the second quarter, for the Knights, and also picked up a team-high six groundballs. Matt McShea recorded the win with an eight-save effort for St. John Fisher.

At 2-1, Clarkson returns to action next Saturday, March 19 with a 1:00 p.m. game against RIT at Hantz Turf Field.