PITTSFORD, N.Y. - Men's lacrosse fell short in the Empire 8 Championships to No. 1 St. John Fisher, as the Golden Flyers were defeated 21-10.

Nazareth will finish its season with an overall record of 13-6 and a conference record of 8-1. With the win, St. John Fisher improves its record to 15-4 overall and 9-0 in conference play and will automatically advance to the NCAA tournament.

After a 0-0 standoff for the first few minutes of game play, St. John Fisher scored its first goal of the game at the 12:50 mark. After the first goal, the Cardinals went up 4-0 in under two minutes, while also adding a fifth goal at the 8:49 mark in the first. 

Nazareth scored the next three goals of the quarter to cut the lead down to two. Matthew Farrington started the scoring for the Golden Flyers with two unassisted goals within two minutes of each other. Nazareth's third goal in the run was Kyle Rosenberger from Quinn McKercher with 4:47 left in the quarter. 

Fisher earned two of those goals back by the end of the quarter to go up 7-3 heading into the second.

The Cardinals broke the game open in the second quarter, scoring seven goals while holding Nazareth scoreless to take a lead of 14-3 heading into halftime.

The Golden Flyers were able to put up two more goals in the third quarter to Fisher's three. The first Golden Flyer goal was Farrington finding the back of the net unassisted. The second was Rosenberger with his second goal of the day from Anthony Menickelli. Heading into the final quarter of regulation, the Cardinals led 17-5.

Nazareth outscored the Cardinals in the final quarter 5-4, but it was not enough to come back from the deficit. Scoring for the Golden Flyers in the final quarter was McKercher unassisted at the 13:37 mark, and then again at the 6:57 mark from Sean O'Brian. Owen Riley found the back of the net on a man-up opportunity from William O'Neill with just under 13 minutes left of game time. Louis Cogliandro scored Nazareth's other two goals of the quarter solo at the time marks of 8:44 and 1:57.

McLean Ralston started in goal for the Golden Flyers and was charged with four goals against in 3:57 minutes played. Zac Isaac played 41:03 between the pipes and was ultimately charged with the loss, allowing 13 goals while tallying 11 saves. Andrew Adams also had a 15 minute run in the net where he was charged with four goals against while tallying two saves.