SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – Junior Peter Kip scored the game-tying goal with 4:51 left and the game-winner with 29 seconds on the clock to lead the #14/20 Union College men's lacrosse team to a 9-8 victory over St. John Fisher College in a non-conference contest on Wednesday evening at Frank Bailey Field at Bertagna-Class of 1985 Stadium.
 
Kip only scored two goals on the night, but made them count on his third and fourth shots of the game. Junior Clayton Arcuri continued his late-season surge with a career-high four goals, while junior Jake Mabardy added a goal and two assists as well for the home team. 
 
On the defensive end, junior Dan Donahue made 18 saves to keep Union (8-5) in the game and first-year John Sula was all over the field with seven ground balls and two caused turnovers. Junior Matthew Paolatto also had a strong came at the X, winning 16-of-21 faceoffs with a game-high eight ground balls.
 
After Matthew Kemmis scored the opening goal of the game for St. John Fisher (5-9), Union came back with the next three to end the first quarter. Mabardy scored his 21st of the year after Paolatto cleanly won the subsequent draw and fed his classmate for the score. Arcuri scored the next two for the home team, taking feeds from junior Justin Greene and Mabardy to give Union a two-goal edge after 15 minutes.
 
Both teams scored once in a low-scoring second period that saw Donahue and SJFC goalie Ben Hammond combine for 13 saves. Arcuri struck again to give Union its largest lead of the game at 4-1 before the Cardinals got a late man-up tally to get within two at the half. Donahue had seven saves in the second stanza to keep his team in the lead.
 
After Arcuri scored his and the team's fourth straight tally to make it a 5-2 lead early in the third, St. John Fisher responded with three straight tallies to knot the score at five. Goals from sophomore Matt Blasi and junior Zach Davis put the home team back up by two, but SJFC got one back in the third quarter and added the first two of the fourth to take their first lead of the game at 8-7 with 7:04 remaining.
 
The lead did not last long, however, as Union took advantage of a Fisher penalty on the next possession to tie the score, with Kip converting a Mabardy pass for his 19th goal of the year. After the teams traded turnovers, Donahue stopped a long-range attempt to set up a last-minute possession for the home team, and Kip slipped the ball between Hammond and the near post with 29 seconds left for the game-winner. Paolatto won the subsequent faceoff thanks to a ground ball from senior Jake Titus and Union was able to run out the clock.
 
St. John Fisher posted a 40-34 edge in shots, but 18 saves from Donahue and one from sophomore Ward Tucker were enough to pull out the win.
 
Union will get back into conference play on Saturday with a matchup at Ithaca College beginning at 1 p.m.