Joe Altieri

Despite a five-goal third period to pull within two, and later within one early in the fourth, a lopsided second period led the Cardinals of St. John Fisher to a 13-10 victory over The College of Wooster men's lacrosse team on Wednesday evening at Growney Stadium in Rochester, N.Y.

Wooster (5-3, 1-0 North Coast Athletic Conference) held a 3-2 lead after the opening 15 minutes of play. Sophomore Cullen Kuhn tallied the game-opening goal nearly six minutes in, marking his 14th of the season.

St. John Fisher (5-2) and Wooster each exchanged a pair of goals to end the half, with senior Sam Kuhn and first-year Shaun Peirce netting their 22nd and 11th goals of the year, respectively.

The Cardinals piled it on in the second period, shutting out the Scots 7-0 to take a 9-3 lead at the half.

St. John Fisher's Chance Gates went back-to-back at the 10:37 mark and 7:11 mark to retake the lead at 4-3. After nearly four minutes of scoreless play, The Cardinals netted five goals from five different players over the final 3:44.

Wooster responded in typical fashion with a big third period, outscoring the Cardinals 5-1. Notably, this season, the Scots have outscored their opponents 38-14 in the third period and have only once been outscored in the stanza (Colorado College).

The Cardinals' Zach Wagner tallied his second of the game to go up 10-3 with 14:07 left in the third. From there, Wooster posted a 5-0 run, led by season-goal number 15 & 16 from Cullen Kuhn, while brother Sam Kuhn, senior Ian Brim, and senior Desmond Hughes all added solo contributions.

For the third time, St. John Fisher scored the first goal of the period, this time coming from Gates at the 11:17 mark in the fourth.

Junior Joe Altieri swung the momentum Wooster's way with his first and second goals of the year to bring the Scots back within one (11-10) at the 9:34 mark. Those goals came just 82 seconds apart, and both unassisted.

Three minutes later, Gates scored his fourth of the day to go back up 12-10 with 6:38 remaining. The Cardinals' TJ VanDeusen delivered the final goal of the game off the pass from Gates to seal the home side's fifth win of the season.

Key for the Cardinals was a 21-for-26 faceoff advantage. For Wooster, Sam Kuhn, senior Jack Gilio, and first-year Connor Mangan each recorded four groundballs while Gilio led the squad with two caused turnovers. In goal, sophomore Wesley Wagner totaled nine saves.

Up next, Wooster travels to Hiram College (4-2, 0-1 NCAC) on Saturday, March 24, for a 1 p.m. start time.