Cardinals Advance to E8 Title Game
Nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College jumped out to an 8-1 lead and never looked back, as the second-seeded Cardinals advanced to the title game of the Empire 8 Conference Championship with an 11-5 win over No. 3 Nazareth College on Saturday in the second of two semifinal matchups, hosted by Ithaca College.
Fisher, ranked 15
th nationally, will play top-seeded Ithaca College at 1 p.m. on Sunday on the Bombers' home field with the winner earning automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championship. Ithaca, ranked 18
th nationally, advanced to the championship game with a 15-6 win over No. 4 Stevens Institute of Technology earlier in the day.
The Cardinals are hoping history can repeat itself. Fisher has won the Empire 8 title each of the last two seasons, knocking off the top-seeded Bombers on both occasions. Fisher and Ithaca played earlier this year. The visiting Cardinals jumped out to 5-1 lead, but Ithaca rallied for a 9-7 win.
Fisher took the lead in today's game just 42 seconds into the contest with freshman
Jordan Johnson scoring on a free position attempt. Just over six minutes later, Johnson scored her second of the day, putting her team up 3-0.
Senior
Taylor Hughes scored all three of her goals in the first half, as the Cardinals jumped out to a 7-1 lead at the break. Hughes finished the game with four points, while
Erin Ward also tallied four points on three assists and one goal.
Sophomore goalie
Nicole Hart did her part to preserve the lead, tallying a career-high 13 saves in the win.
Sierra Badger finished with three goals, while
Jill Zerrillo and
Lindsey Shoales also scored in the win. Zerrillo also lead the Cardinals with three ground balls and three draw controls.
Senior
Logan Barnard led the Fisher defense with four caused turnovers.