St. John Fisher Women's Lacrosse Defeats Ithaca for Empire 8 Title
The St. John Fisher College women’s lacrosse team won the program’s third Empire 8 Championship on Sunday with a 9-7 decision over the No. 1 seeded and nationally ranked Ithaca College Bombers at Higgins Stadium.
The Cardinals, ranked No. 2 in the conference tournament, advance to the NCAA Championship with the win. Their opponent will be announced at 9:30 p.m. on Sunday night in the NCAA Selection Show, which will be streamed live at ncaa.com.
With the game tied 7-7, Fisher (14-4) scored the game’s final two goals to defeat the Bombers, who were ranked 20th in the most recent Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association poll. The win also snaps Ithaca’s 10-game winning streak, denying the Bombers what would have been a school record 11th-straight win.
The game was tight through-out, with neither team holding a lead of more than two goals over the 60 minutes.
After losing offensive threat Melissa Leonhard to a second yellow card with 21:14 to play, Emily Bryerton scored the game winner at the 7:08 mark of the second half when Fisher completed a crisp offensive transition that led to the goal.
Fisher defender Logan Barnard added her first goal of the season for insurance, when she scored with just under five minutes to play on an open net.
Ithaca jumped out to a 2-0 lead just three minute into the game, but Taylor Hughes cut the lead to one goal with her first tally of the day at the 22:03 mark. The Bombers added another go up 3-1, but Leonhard responded to keep the game close at 3-2.
Following suit, the teams traded goals to bring the score to 4-3, with the Cardinals’ third goal coming from Hughes off a feed from Leonhard. That score would hold for the final 8:38 of the first half.
In the second 30 minutes, Ithaca was again the first to score but Hughes and Leonhard teamed up for the second time to keep Fisher close at 5-4. Another set of back-and-forth goals made it 6-5, but the Cardinals went for two-straight with Hughes adding her fourth of the day and tying the game at 6-6.
Erin Ward gave the Cardinals their first lead of the day with on a free position with 10:38 remaining. From the left hash, Ward’s shot hit off the stick of Ithaca goalie Jess Worthman and barely dribbled over the goal line to put Fisher up 7-6.
But the host would not back down, as Michelle Avery scored on a free position with just under 10 minutes to play, knotting things up at 7s. However, that would be the last time the Bombers would get on the board.
Hughes, who finished with a game-high four goals, was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. Leonhard, Barnard, Marykate Edmunds and Caroline Trpcevski were also named to the All-Tournament Team. Trpcevski tied her career-high with 11 saves in the contest to earn her seventh-straight win.