Second Half Surge Sends Fisher to Sixth-Straight Final

5/6/2017 2:21:00 PM

ITHACA, N.Y. – The fourth-seeded St. John Fisher College women's lacrosse team down top seed Ithaca College, 17-10, in the Empire 8 Championship semifinal Saturday. With the win, Fisher will now seek its sixth-straight conference title as it will square off against the winner against Stevens and Nazareth on Sunday at 12 p.m.

Fisher came out of the gates firing as it knew it had to put up some goals to beat the nationally-ranked Bombers. The Cardinals netted five of the game's first six goals, including two from junior Claire Bollin. Ithaca fought back though, going on a four-goal tear to even the score at 5-5 with 7:45 left in the half. Both teams would cash in two more before the halftime whistle, setting the score to, 7-7 at intermission.

The beginning of the second half looked like it was going to match the first, with a stint of back-and-forth action. Ithaca took its first lead of the day with a goal to open up the half, but it was matched with back-to-back goals by Cori Holbrook. The Bombers would tie it up once more at, 9-9, with 23:41, but then Fisher exploded.

Starting at the 20:56 mark, the Cardinals tallied seven unanswered over a 10:53 timeframe. The run saw six different Fisher players score and increased the squads lead to a commanding 16-9.
From then on, Fisher locked in on defense, denying the Bombers any opportunity to pose a comeback. The two sides would each notch one more but the Cardinals would hold on to earn a trip to the finals.

Four different Cardinals had a hat trick on the day, with Bollin's four-goal performance leading the pack. Cori Holbrook, Jamie Wallace and Jordan Johnson each finished the day with three. Turning in single-goal games were Kelsie Schindler, Morgan Young, Mackenzie LeVan and Jenna Lippert.

Bollin continued her tremendous day on the draw as she controlled a team-high nine. Also pitching in was Cori Holbrook, who registered three.

On defense, Abbie Reed turned in a quality game, causing two turnovers and scooping up three groundballs. Mary Grace Doyle picked up the most 50-50 balls on the day though, collecting four.

In goal, Hayley Peets turned away seven Bomber shots in 53:18 minutes of play. Morgan Hayes relieved the senior netminder for the final 6:42, picking up three saves.