Leonhard Sets Fisher's All-Time Scoring Mark as Cardinals Advance to E8 Championship
The No. 2 St. John Fisher College women’s lacrosse team defeated No. 3 Nazareth College in the semifinals of the Empire 8 Championship held at Ithaca College, site of the No. 1-seeded Bombers. The win sets up a repeat of last year’s title game in the same location, as Fisher and Ithaca will battle for the Empire 8 crown at 2 p.m. on Sunday. The Cardinals took down the Bombers 9-7 at Marty Higgins Stadium to earn the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championship in 2012.
Melissa Leonhard led the Cardinals with five goals, while Taylor Hughes tallied four points on an assist and three scores. Fisher outshot Naz 26-22, was 14-of-15 on clear attempts and forced 15 Golden Flyers' turnovers in the contest.
Fisher got on the board first just 1:23 into the contest as Leonhard notched her 52nd goal of the season. The goal was Leonhard’s 186th of her career, making her the all-time leading scorer in the program’s history, surpassing Lauren Glavin’s career total of 185.
Hughes scored a goal of her own less than a minute later to put the Cardinals up 2-0 over Nazareth.
Fisher’s defense held the Golden Flyers scoreless for a nearly 15-minute span but could not add to its lead before Nazareth finally got a score. Nazareth scored quickly again, just 55 seconds later, knotting the score at 2-2.
The Cardinals then found a way to increase their lead, scoring four-straight goals. Fisher’s first in the four-goal span came from Chrissy Cook off a Sierra Badger before Hughes added two more on her day. Leonard capped the run with an unassisted goal on a free-position shot.
Fisher’s last goal of the half came on transition after a beautiful save by freshman Nicole Hart, as Leonard went to the pipes nearly wide open to score a man-up goal.
After the break, Nazareth came out ready to go, scoring two-straight goals to narrow the Fisher lead to 7-5. The Golden Flyers also held Fisher scoreless for nearly the first 10 minutes of the period before Sam Barton found the net after a nice cut and find by Erin Ward.
The Barton goal started the Cardinals’ second four-goal run of the game, followed by another Leonhard unassisted goal, fourth of the contest. Barton then returned the favor to Ward, finding her cutting to the net for a goal. The stretch ended when Hughes found Tori Suto making a run at the pipes, beating the keeper with a hard shot, putting Fisher up 11-5 with 8:56 to play.
Nazareth would not go away, however, scoring two more goals in a 54 second span to cut the Cardinals lead to 11-7 with 7:46 remaining.
Leonhard would stop the quick Golden Flyers run, gaining a free-position opportunity and not squandering the chance, putting the attempt high past the goalie. The goal that put Fisher up 12-7 would be its last of the day, as it held Nazareth to two goals over the final six minutes to preserve the 12-9 victory.