The flame ignited by a strong start was put out quickly on a cold, rainy Saturday at Coyer Field as the women’s lacrosse team fell to No. 17 St. John Fisher, 14-9, in their home-opener.

The Bengals then fell to 1-3 on Tuesday after a 16-8 loss at Union College in a non-conference matchup.

The Bengals got off to a strong start on Saturday and held a 5-3 lead mid-way through the first half. Junior attack Sarah Lorrusso opened up the scoring just 44 seconds into the game and tallied another just over five minutes into the game. She finished the day with three goals and an assist.

St. John Fisher called a timeout following the fifth Buffalo State goal, and immediately tightened things up after regrouping. The Cardinals held possession for much of the remainder of the first half and were disciplined and patient when attacking. St. John Fisher closed out the first half on a 4-0 run.

Fisher’s sophomore attacker Jordan Johnson set up a well-executed play that resulted in three goals by waiting behind the net and then passing to senior midfielder Lindsey Shoales as soon as she cut in front of the net to set up a quick strike.

With 4:29 left in the first half, Buffalo State head coach Lindsay Abbott made a goaltending change, subbing senior Colleen George in for sophomore Elyse Stark.

“When Colleen came in, she had a couple of good saves for us,” Abbott said. “We have two goalkeepers and we’re really trying figure out who is going to be our starter this year.”

St. John Fisher went into halftime with a 7-5 lead and widened the margin quickly, beginning the second half with a 7-2 run. Two late tallies were not enough to bring Buffalo State back into the game.

“We have a lot of things that we need to work on,” Abbott said. “But I think that the biggest thing is making sure that we start each half and come out strong and are ready to go all the time. Sometimes, we do get into a little lull and we really need to figure out how we can get out of it.”

George finished with five saves while Stark stopped two. They allowed seven goals each.

Freshman attacker Alanna Herne posted two goals on a team-leading seven shots and also had an assist. Senior midfielder and captain Meghan Farrell also scored twice, while senior attacker Alexis Wilensky posted a goal and added two assists.

Shooting on Cardinal goaltender Nicole Hart was a coin flip, as she posted nine saves on the 18 shots she faced.

“We have high expectations for ourselves and we need to be accountable,” senior attacker Kendra Thomas said.

“We need to push each other every day in practice in order to become better as a team and it needs to come from everyone,” Farrell added.

On Tuesday, the Tufts used a 9-0 run midway through the game to pull away from the Bengals, never looking back. The Tufts outshot Buffalo State by a 30-21 margin. Herne led the offense with two goals and two assists, Lorusso netted a hat trick and George made nine saves and received the loss.

The Bengals look next at a trip out west to California for a pair of games against Occidental in Los Angeles on Sunday and a contest against Pomona-Pitzer in Claremont on Tuesday.