Late Rally Pushes York Over Fisher In NCAA Tournament
Box Score
The nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College women's lacrosse team led for the entire contest before York College scored what would prove to be the winning goal with 1:22 remaining to defeat the visiting Cardinals, 13-12, in the Second Round of the NCAA Division III Women's lacrosse Championship on Saturday.
Fisher finishes its season 15-5 overall while the Spartans improve to 15-4 on year.
Erica Mulford scored her third straight goal to give the host Spartans a 13-12 lead with 1:22 remaining to close out a 5-0 run by the home squad. Fisher pressed to score the game-tying goal with two free position chances from
Samantha Barton with under :10 seconds remaining but the York goaltender came up huge to help secure the victory.
After a first half in which the Cardinals scored eight goals for an 8-7 advantage they managed to score just four in the final half.
Erin Ward upped the Fisher lead to 11-8 on back-to-back tallies to break up a goal by the Spartans with the second coming nearly seven minutes into the half.
The Cardinals matched their largest lead of the game after
Jordan Johnson scored an unassisted goal, with
Taylor Hughes scoring her fifth of the game shortly after for a 12-8 advantage at the 16:54 mark, however Fisher would not score again the rest of the game.
Fisher wasted no time getting started in the game jumping out to a 4-0 lead within the first five minutes. Johnson scored an unassisted goal less than one minute into the contest to get things started.
Three minutes later the Cardinals were back at it again netting three goals within a 1:16 span to take a 4-0 advantage. Barton scored her 41
st goal of the season after splitting the defense and hitting the top corner. Reigning Empire 8 Player of the Year Hughes scored less than :30 seconds later and
Sierra Badger scored off a free position with 25:14 showing on the clock for the early scoring flurry.
The Spartans scored the next two goals of the game to draw within 4-2 at the 23:24 mark.
After several minutes without either team finding the net Hughes took it upon herself going coast to coast for her second goal near the midpoint of the half to push Fisher's lead to 5-2.
The squads traded the next four goals over a five minute span with Hughes tallying her third and fourth goals of the game to make it 7-4 in the favor of the visiting squad at the 8:22 mark. Hughes fourth goal of the day was scored on a man-up opportunity.
However the Spartans scored three of the final four goals of the half, including two within the final two minutes, to trim the Cardinals halftime advantage to 8-7.
Hughes paced the Cardinals attack with five goals. The most decorated player in program history concludes her career with as the program leader in goals (217), assists (87) and points (304).
Ward tallied three goals on the day, while Johnson scored two goals. Barton chipped in a goal and assist while Badger had one goal.
Nicole Hart dropped her first game of the season (6-1) making six saves in net.