Fisher, Ithaca and Naz Secure Playoff Bid with Wins
Nazareth, Ithaca and St. John Fisher all clinched an E8 playoff spot with wins on Wednesday. Stevens who already had a spot clinched won a non-conference game.
Nazareth is tied for first place in the E8 with Stevens and St. John Fisher with records of 6-1. Nazareth can clinch the top seed and hosting privileges for next week's conference tournament with a win Saturday at Stevens. If Nazareth loses and Fisher defeats Elmira on Saturday, then Fisher would earn hosting rights.
|
SCHOOL |
CONF |
OVERALL |
|
Nazareth |
6-1 |
11-3 |
|
St. John Fisher |
6-1 |
11-4 |
|
Stevens |
6-1 |
12-3 |
|
Ithaca |
6-2 |
10-7 |
|
Utica |
3-4 |
8-6 |
|
Hartwick |
2-5 |
4-8 |
|
Houghton |
2-5 |
5-9 |
|
Elmira |
1-6 |
2-12 |
|
Alfred |
0-7 |
2-9 |
NAZARETH v Alfred
Playing its final regular-season home game Wednesday in women's lacrosse, Nazareth dominated Alfred from start to finish to gain a 21-3 victory over the Saxons in Empire 8 Conference action.
Nazareth improved to 11-3 overall and 6-1 in conference play. Alfred dropped to 2-10 overall and 0-7 in the E8.
Nazareth is listed in the East Region rankings at No. 7 behind Cortland, Fredonia, The College of New Jersey, St. John Fisher, Brockport and Montclair State. Stevens is ranked behind Nazareth at No. 8.
In Wednesday's game, Nazareth blitzed the Saxons by scoring the first 11 goals before settling for a 13-1 halftime advantage. Freshman
Haley DeVona assisted on the first three Nazareth goals and scored the fourth before the game was 10 minutes old.
Bri Mancini finished with a career-high four goals and Brooke Sullivan added three goals and three assists. DeVona had four assists overall in addition to two goals. Sophomore
Kate Rothrock also had three assists.
Junior
Carly Gates and sophomore
Heather Groot each scored twice and added an assist. Haley and Prince, both defenders, each scored for the first time this season. For Hannah Prince it was her first career goal, for MacKenzie Haley her third. Gray also had a goal as did freshmen
Katie Carroll and
Morgan Johnson and sophomores
Jamie Martin,
Leah Marvin and
Hayley Spoljaric.
Ashley Kirch played the first 30 minutes in goal and made four saves while allowing one goal. Freshman
Mackenzie Corbett played the second half and had two saves and allowed two goals. Kaitlyn Button scored all three of Alfred's goals.
ITHACA v Utica
The Ithaca College women's lacrosse team scored the game-winning goal with 18 seconds left in a 10-9 win at Utica College on Wednesday afternoon. The victory clinched an Empire 8 playoff spot for Ithaca, as the Bombers improved their record to 10-7 overall and 6-2 in the conference.
With the game tied 9-9 in the final minute of the second half, Ithaca goalkeeper
Emily Ross stole the ball from the Pioneers and Ithaca called timeout. The Bombers successfully cleared the ball to the attack end of the field, and
Morgan Cadwell was fouled and awarded a free-position shot. Cadwell converted with 18 seconds left. It was her second goal of the game.
Utica won the ensuing draw control but failed to attempt a shot in the game's closing seconds.
Neither team led by more than two goals in the back-and-forth contest.
Utica led 2-0 in the early part of the first half, but Ithaca scored three goals in a row to take a 3-2 lead.
Ally Runyon got Ithaca on the board and
Emily Peters scored twice in that span. Utica took a 4-3 lead, but another three-goal run for the Bombers on goals by
Riley Marion, Runyon and Cadwell put Ithaca in front.
Ithaca led 6-5 at halftime, but the Pioneers tied the game early in the second half.
Natalie Lang and Peters scored, each from free position attempts, and Ithaca never trailed again. Utica tied the game 9-9 with 3:19 left to set up the deciding conclusion.
Ross made 11 saves for Ithaca and Utica converted just 2-of-7 free-position shots. Ithaca was 5-for-6 on free positions. Utica had a stats advantage in shots, ground balls and draw controls.
Peters led Ithaca with three goals. Runyon, Marion and Cadwell scored two goals each. With two goals in Wednesday's games, Runyon has 51 goals on the season. It is the 11th time in program history that a player has hit the 50-goal mark in a single season.
ST. JOHN FISHER v Houghton
Samantha Barton,
Erin Ward and
Lexi Peebles each recorded a hat trick as the St. John Fisher College women's lacrosse team cruised to a 19-4 win over visiting Houghton College on Wednesday. With the win, the Cardinals have won five straight and improve to 11-4 overall and 6-1 in Empire 8 Conference play.
The Cardinals have already clinched a spot in the Empire 8 Championship, but their seeding will depend on their final regular season contests. Stevens Institute of Technology and Nazareth College have also clinched a spot, while Ithaca College and Utica College are also in the running for the tournament on May 2-3.
Fisher put together 15 goals in the first half, including 13 unanswered notches, to fuel the offense.
Sierra Badger and
Lindsey Shoales put the Cardinals on the scoreboard early, with tallies in the first three minutes of play. Houghton recorded its first goal of the day with 25:57 remaining in the opening half before Fisher went on its 13-0 run. During that time, Barton and Ward recorded their hat tricks.
1The Cardinals, who outshot the Highlanders 21-2 in the opening half, led 15-1 at halftime.
Mackenzie LeVan opened the second half with a goal in the first three minutes, making it a 16-1 game in favor of Fisher.
Lexi Peebles scored Fisher's next three goals and the first three of her career to close out the Cardinals' scoring.
Houghton added three goals in the second half against goalkeeper
Jenn Crater. Starting goalkeeper
Nicole Hart earned the win in net, allowing just one goal. She improves to 8-4 on the year.
Cori Holbrook led Fisher in points (5) on one goal and four assists.
STEVENS v Farmingdale
Freshman
Julianna Ricci scored 2:07 into the first overtime period and the Stevens Institute of Technology women's lacrosse team to a 14-12 overtime win over Farmingdale State on Wednesday.
The Ducks have won four straight and are 12-3 overall, while Farmingdale dropped to 8-6 on the season.
The Rams scored the first two goals of the game as Nicole Marzocca and Jackie Kennedy scored in the first 6:46 of the contest. Stevens would then go to score the next three markers as junior Erike Wilcox, sophomore
Kathleen Kalbian and senior
Caitlyn Hughes scored within a four minute span to give the Ducks the lead back. After trading the next four goals, Marzocca recorded three goals over the final eight minutes of the period with Wilcox getting one back to give the visitors a 7-6 halftime edge.
Farmingdale started the second half pouring in three goals in the opening 7:13, with Alyssa Handel, Kennedy and Brittany Rosino each recording a goal, with Rosino's a man up. Stevens countered back with the next three tallies, including man up goals by sophomores
Caroline DeLuca and
Mariel Haubrich, sandwiched around an even strength goal by freshman
Cami Santor. Kelly Geheran reestablished the two goal lead with 13:43 left, but Wilcox notched her fourth of the contest with 9:03 left to cut the deficit in half.
Handel scored her second of the match with a little over a minute remaining, setting the stage for a dramatic comeback. The Ducks actually lost the ensuing draw, but a Marzocca turnover was scooped up by Ricci. After a successful clear, Wilcox recovered the rebound of a missed shot and deposited her fifth of the day into the back of the cage, once again putting the Ducks down a goal. Santor won a crucial draw control, and Wilcox knotted the contest with four seconds remaining on the clock.
In overtime, Farmingdale forced a Stevens turnover, but DeLuca forced the Rams into a turnover on a clear and was able to scoop up the ground ball and drew a foul. With 53 seconds left in the first overtime, Ricci took the feed from DeLuca to give Stevens a 13-12 lead. Santor corralled the draw control to start the second OT period, and the hosts were able to control play. With the Rams pressing, Santor found a wide open DeLuca with one second left to add an insurance marker to beat the oncoming rain storm and sent the crowd home with a win.
The Ducks controlled the offensive stats, outshooting their opponents 45-20 and collected 21 more ground balls. Wilcox had six goals on 17 shots to go along with five ground balls while Ricci grabbing 10 ground balls and forcing six turnovers. Kalbian had three helpers to go along with eight draw controls.
Marzocca had four goals and four draw controls while Handel and Kennedy recorded multiple goal games. Krista Spagnoletta made 19 saves in the defeat.