Hughes & Co. Cruise Past Nazareth
The St. John Fisher College women’s lacrosse team cruised to a 16-5 win over the host Nazareth College Golden Flyers on Saturday afternoon. The win pushes Fisher to 6-1 in Empire 8 play and 11-4 overall on the season. The game was the last Conference match-up of the regular season for both Fisher and Nazareth, who falls to 6-8, 4-3 E8 with the loss.
Fisher never trailed in the contest as the Cardinals jumped out to an early 4-0 lead, forcing a Nazareth timeout with 16:14 to play in the half. Bridget Alberts was the first to get on the scoreboard when she scored off a feed from Taylor Hughes. Hughes followed that assist with another, this time finding Lindsey Shoales to make the game 2-0.
Just 10 seconds later, Emily Bryerton put one in from Melissa Leonhard and then went for two-in-a-row on an unassisted tally at 16:14.
Nazareth came out of the timeout and scored a goal, but it was the only Fisher allowed in the half as the visitors went on an eight-goal tear that spanned from the 5:54 mark of the second half to the 18:38 mark of the second stanza. Bryerton jumped-started the streak with her third goal of the day, completing the hat trick in just about 15 minutes.
Hughes had a stellar showing for the Cardinals, as she ended the first half with a goal at the seven-second mark to send Fisher into the locker room with a 7-1 lead. The Watertown native continued her strong play in the second as she added three of her four goals and two of her four assists, to finish with a game-high eight points.
With Fisher leading 12-1, Nazareth added four goals over the final 16:50 of the game, but the Golden Flyers were never able to gain enough momentum to threaten.
Leonhard added five points in the game with three goals and two assists, while Alberts came away with a hat trick. Jill Zerrillo and Kristina Lombard each scored a goal for Fisher and Allison Brady added an assists.
Caroline Trpcevski played all 60 minutes between the pipes to earn the win.
Fisher will round out the regular season at 4 p.m. on Tuesday when it travels to St. Lawrence University to face the Saints.