St. John Fisher Controls Wittenberg in Season Opener
The St. John Fisher College women’s lacrosse team earned its first win of the season with a 16-4 victory over Wittenberg University on Wednesday night in West Palm Beach, FL. Not only was the win the first of the season for Fisher, but it also marked the first for head coach Linda Michele who took charge of the program in the Fall.
Reigning Empire 8 Conference Rookie of the Year Taylor Hughes led her team and outscored the entire Wittenberg team, adding seven goals in the contest. Melissa Leonhard, who was named a Division III Third Team All-American in 2011, added five goals and an assist in the effort. Molly Naylon earned her first win of the season with three saves.
Leonhard scored the game’s opening goal with a free position shot just over three minutes into the first half. Wittenberg answered to make it 1-1, but Fisher went on a six-goal streak that started with a free position goal from Jill Zerrillo. Leonhard scored her second goal to end the span, while Hughes added three of her seven over the 12-minute window. Freshman Erin Ward also picked-up her first career goal during the streak, hitting mesh 10 minutes into the contest.
Wittenberg added the last two goals of the half, but Fisher held a 7-3 lead after the first 30 minutes.
The second half started like the first, with Leonhard scoring on a free position and Wittenberg responding with a goal. But that goal, scored nine minutes into the stanza, would be Wittenberg’s last as Fisher held the Tigers scoreless for the remaining 20:41 and added eight more goals for itself.
Hughes scored four more goals, while Leonhard added another two. Zerrillo added another to finish with two goals, while Kristen Zylka scored a goal in the contest. Ward also added an assist to compile two points in her debut.
Leonhard and Marykate Edmunds led the Cardinals with three caused turnovers each, while Caroline Trpcevski took over for Naylon and held the Tigers scoreless in her time.