Hughes Leads St. John Fisher Past Stevens and Into E8 Final
The St. John Fisher College women’s lacrosse team defeated Stevens Institute of Technology 13-9 in the Empire 8 Conference semifinals to advance to the final game which will be played at 1 p.m. on Sunday. The Cardinals will face the No. 1 seed and host Ithaca College Bombers, who defeated Fisher 8-3 earlier in the season.
Taylor Hughes led Fisher to victory on Saturday, as she exploded for a career-high nine points on seven goals and two assists.
Fisher jumped out to a 3-0 lead over the game’s first 3:25, as Hughes got the Cardinals going by scoring just 10 seconds in. Hughes’ goal was followed with tallies consecutive from Lindsey Shoales and Bridget Alberts.
But Stevens scored the game’s next-four goals to take a 4-3 advantage with 22:05 to go in the first half. After trading goals to make the score 5-5, Fisher scored the last three goals of the half to take an 8-5 lead into the locker room. Melissa Leonhard scored her second goal of the day with 10:37 to go in the half off a feed from Hughes.
The duo combined for Fisher’s next goal when Leonhard made beautiful pass on a give-and-go, leading to a Hughes goal with 36 seconds left. Leonhard added the Cardinals’ final goal of the half on a free position with 18 seconds to go. Both Leonhard and Hughes scored three goals in the half.
Hughes kept the hot hand in the second half as she scored four-straight goals over a 10-minute span to give Fisher a five-goal lead. With Stevens threatening at 8-7, the sophomore went on the streak with the four unassisted tallies.
The one-goal difference was the closest the Ducks would get, as the team could not overcome the deficit.
Leonhard finished with four points on three goals and an assist, while Shoales also added a second goal in the game.
Caroline Trpcevski made seven saves in net for Fisher.