PITTSFORD, N.Y. – Sophomore Dan Donahue matched the most saves by a Union College goalie in nearly 17 years and senior Peter Burnes had another six-point night against a nationally ranked foe as the #3/4 Dutchmen won their 10th straight game with a hard-fought 13-12 win over #5 St. John Fisher College on Wednesday night at Growney Stadium.
 
The win, Union's fourth over a nationally ranked team so far this season, continues the best start to a season in program history.
 
Donahue had yet another incredible game in between the pipes for Union, turning aside a career-high 23 shots in the victory. The 23 saves are tied for the most in a game by a Union goalie in almost 17 years, since Rob Oram stopped 24 shots against Hartwick College on April 13, 2005.
 
Burnes continued to step up his game against top competition as well, scoring five goals with an assist for a game-high six points. It's his third six-point game against a nationally ranked team this year, and the senior has compiled 16 goals and six assists in four games against ranked opponents so far in 2022.
 
Perhaps more impressively, Union once again spread the wealth around after that – six players accounted for the team's other eight goals, paced by seniors Hayden Frey and Keaton McCann with two apiece.
 
Union got on the board first just 14 seconds into the game, when senior Sam Byrne forced a turnover off the opening faceoff and fed Burnes for an easy put away. However, the Union offense stalled after that, going more than 12 minutes without a goal as the Cardinals took a 3-1 lead. But the visitors came back with two goals in 12 seconds to knot the score, getting a behind-the-back beauty from senior Matthew Georgiades and one soon after from Frey.
 
St. John Fisher struck first in the second stanza to regain the lead before Union came back with three straight tallies. Sophomore Peter Kip evened the score with 9:35 left in the quarter before goals by Burnes and senior Kieran McGovern 39 seconds apart gave Union its largest lead of the half at 6-4. The lead did not last long, however, as Logan Grom won the faceoff and scored 13 seconds later, and the Cardinals added two more to take a 7-6 lead into the half.
 
Donahue kept Union in the game by making 13 saves in the first 30 minutes of action, while Ben Hammond had eight stops for SJFC.
 
The halftime break seemed to do the Dutchmen well, as Burnes scored two minutes into the third followed by goals from senior Brian Davis and McCann to again build the lead to two at 9-7. Two Fisher goals knotted the score at nine, and Donahue kept it a tie game by making a huge save on the doorstep in the final second of the period.
 
Befitting the stakes of the matchup, the teams traded goals for the next few minutes. Tied at 11 with 3:47 left, Union won the faceoff and McCann went to work, firing a shot past Hammond with 2:49 to go that put Union up 12-11. Sophomore Matthew Paolatto then came up with a huge faceoff win to regain possession, and Burnes struck for the fifth time from McGovern with 1:45 on the clock.
 
Another Paolatto faceoff win allowed the visitors to kill some clock, but Fisher eventually regained possession and made things interesting thanks to an Ian Evans goal with 19 seconds left and then a Grom faceoff win. But the Dutchmen defense stood tall after a timeout, forcing a last-second shot wide to complete the victory.
 
Fisher finished the game with a 49-41 edge in shots. Paolatto had a good day at the X by winning 11-of-16 draws and grabbing eight ground balls.
 
The road does not get any easier for Union, as the team returns to the Rochester area on Saturday for yet another nationally ranked battle with #3/4 Rochester Institute of Technology beginning at 1 p.m.