Elmira, Fisher, Ithaca and Stevens Win on Saturday
ST. JOHN FISHER v NAZARETH
Senior Melissa Leonhard, playing in the final home game of her career, scored two goals in a nine-second span to snap a 4-4 tie late in the first half to help lift the St. John Fisher College women’s lacrosse team to a 12-8 win over visiting Nazareth College in a pivotal Empire 8 Conference matchup.
With the win, Fisher improves to 9-3 overall and 3-1 in the Empire 8, while Nazareth falls to 5-6, 2-2.
Fisher never trailed in the game. The Cardinals took a 4-1 lead with 12 minutes left in the first half, but Nazareth came storming back, scoring three straight in a five-minute span.
With 1:18 left in the first half Leonhard gave her team the lead for good, and after winning the ensuing draw, the senior scored again, this time with 1:09 remaining to give the Cardinals a 6-4 lead at the break.
Nazareth pulled to within a goal on two different occasions in the second half. Erinn Wood scored for the Golden Flyers with 6:39 left to make it 9-8, but the Cardinals answered right back with Lindsey Shoales scoring off a pass from Samantha Barton less than one minute later.
Fisher out-shot Nazareth 44-11 and had a 29-15 advantage in ground balls. Leonhard led Fisher with five goals, while Erin Ward scored four goals – two in each half.
Taylor Hughes tallied three assists, while Bridget Alberts also scored in the win. Barton also scored a goal. Hughes led Fisher with five draw controls and four ground balls. Logan Barnard, Emily Bryerton and Leonhard also finished with four ground balls.
Freshman Nicole Hart made the start in goal for Fisher – the first of her career – and made one save over 29 minutes. Senior Molly Naylon played the remaining minutes of the game and made one save.
Fisher will return to action at 1 p.m. on Friday at Stevens Institute of Technology.
STEVENS v HARTWICK
The Stevens Institute of Technology women's lacrosse team earned its fourth-straight win Saturday, rolling to a 17-3 Empire 8 victory at Hartwick College at Wright Stadium in Oneonta.
The Ducks (7-6 overall, 3-1 Empire 8) were led by a career-high seven points from sophomore attack
Caitlyn Hughes (Randolph, N.J.) who tallied six goals and one assist.
Stevens scored the first nine goals of the game, getting on the board 30 seconds in when Hughes notched her first thanks to an assist from sophomore attack
Andrea Dragoni(Easton, Pa.). Junior midfielder
Kara Rafferty (Bayshore, N.Y.) put away a feed from senior midfielder
Spencer Waybright (West Hartford, Conn.) and senior midfielder
Joey Galligan (Burlingame, Calif.) put the Ducks up 3-0 at 22:18 of the first.
Rafferty and Waybright connected again, with Hughes scoring goal number two of the day to make it 5-0 with 13:10 on the clock. That marker was assisted by freshman
Jaimie Mastrogiacomo (Whitehouse Station, N.J.).
Rafferty recorded her third at 12:21, Hughes followed 1:06 later and freshman
Erika Wilcox (Baldwinsville, N.Y.) pushed her way into the goal column to give the Ducks a 9-0 edge with 6:08 on the clock.
Hartwick (4-7 overall, 1-3 Empire 8) got on the board with 5:41 left, but Hughes answered with two goals 1:13 apart and the two teams went into the break with Stevens on top by a score of 11-2.
Waybright recorded her first goal 25 ticks into the second period, and 1:56 later freshman
Mackenzie Swartout (Rochester, N.Y.) made it a 13-2 game. Galligan scored her second and Hughes pocketed her sixth for goals 14 and 15 as Mastrogiacomo and Waybright closed the scoring for Stevens.
The Ducks ended the contest with a 40-13 advantage in shots and a 23-22 edge in ground balls. Stevens won 15-of-22 draws.
Senior
Meg Collins (Marshfield, Mass.) earned the win in goal for Stevens, playing a little more then 32 minutes and making six saves. The three total goals against for the Ducks' defense marks the fifth-straight game Stevens has held its opposition to eight goals or less as the Ducks are 4-1 during that time.
In addition to Hughes and her seven points, Rafferty finished with four goals and four draw controls, while Waybright had two goals, two assists and two draws. Galligan had three points, three caused turnovers, four ground balls and two draw controls, and Mastrogiacomo added a goal, an assist and a draw control. Dragoni notched three helpers and two ground balls, with sophomore defender
Amanda Ingersoll (Baldwinsville, N.Y.) tallying three ground balls and a caused turnover. Wilcox scored once and added four draw controls.
Stevens will return to action when it hosts St. John Fisher College Friday at the De Baun Athletic Complex. Opening draw is set for 1 p.m. and all the action can be seen live at
www.Empire8.TV. The Ducks are currently tied with Fisher for second in the Empire 8 with a record of 3-1 behind Ithaca College. Last year, Fisher defeated Stevens in the regular season and conference tournament, eventually going on to the Empire 8 title and appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
ITHACA v UTICA
The 13th-ranked Ithaca College women's lacrosse team (7-4, 4-0 Empire 8) snapped a 3-3 halftime stalemate to defeat host Utica (7-4, 1-3 Empire 8) 9-5 Saturday afternoon at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium.
Ithaca scored two in the first six minutes of play, but the Pioneers answered with back-to-back goals to deadlock action at the 17-minute mark. Ithaca and Utica exchanged scores for a 3-3 tie at the half. The Bombers dominated the second period, leading the shot count 22-9 and outscoring the Pioneers, 6-2.
Senior
Tracy Rivas (East Meadow, N.Y./East Meadow) and freshman
Allison Runyon (Fairport, N.Y./Fairport) scored hat tricks to lead all action. Rivas' three points increased her career point total to 218, moving her into second-place all time at Ithaca.
Nicole Borisenok (Watervliet/Albany Academy for Girls), a 2012 graduate, now sits third with 217 points.
Armbruster added a pair of scores and sophomore
Molly Fischer (Aquinnah, Mass./Martha's Vineyard) accounted for the Bombers' other tally. Senior
Michelle Avery (Norwalk, Conn./Brien McMahon) and juniors
Becky Guzzo (Baldwinsville, N.Y./C.W. Baker) and
Katie Long (Ithaca, N.Y./Ithaca) each dished out an assist. Rivas had a game-best four ground balls. Senior
Nikki Dahl(Columbus, Ohio/The Wellington School) won three draw controls and Avery forced a contest-best three turnovers. The Pioneers led the turnover count, 21-13.
Senior
Jess Worthman (Commack, N.Y./Hauppauge) recorded the victory in goal, making four saves for the Bombers.
Ithaca owned a 35-15 margin in shots and a 27-16 advantage in ground balls. Utica won eight draws to Ithaca's seven.
The Bombers return to action on Tuesday, April 16 at William Smith at 5 p.m.
ELMIRA v ALFRED
The EC Women's Lacrosse team played another great game taking down the Saxons of Alfred University, 11-8, Saturday afternoon at Merrill Field. The Soaring Eagles improve to 6-5 overall and 4-2 in Empire 8 action, while the Saxons fall to 3-4 overall and 0-4 in conference.
The game was fairly even in the beginning with both teams battling on the defensive end.
Gretchen Smith '15 scored the game's first goal at the 22:40 mark on a free position opportunity. Later Alfred was able to get on the board and over the next five minutes both teams continued to capitalize in their offensive zones trading goals. After the score being 4-3, in favor of EC,
Marki Michaels '13 and
Moorea Spoljaric '16 each registered a goal to bring it to 6-3 at halftime.
In the second half Alfred came out strong scoring three straight goals in the first seven minutes. However, EC was able to pull it together to take back the lead, 7-6, and control the rest of the half for the victory.
Although EC lead Alfred in shots, 25-19, the game was evenly played with both teams being close in ground balls, clears, draw control wins and turnovers.
Spoljaric led all scorers with three goals, two ground balls and two draw control wins.
Natalie Robinson '15 followed with two goals, while
Emma Schepers '13 contributed one goal and two assists.
Mary Kate Gellerman '13 and
LeAnna Presler '14 split time between the pipes for EC.
Gellerman played the first 40 minutes making five saves, while
Presler finished the final 20 minutes making three saves.
The Purple and Gold will return to action Tuesday, April 16 when they travel to the University of Scranton. Game is set to start at 6:00 p.m.