For the First Time! St. John Fisher Captures First-Ever E8 Men's Lacrosse Title

5/4/2019 9:25:47 PM

St. John Fisher won its first Empire 8 Conference Men's Lacrosse Championship in program history on Saturday afternoon as the second-seeded Cardinals took down No. 10 and top-seeded Stevens by a score of 13-6. With the victory, Fisher secures a spot in the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship, while moving its overall record to 16-2 on the season. With the loss, the Ducks fall to 15-3 overall and will wait and see if they will receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament next week.

CLOSER LOOK
The Cardinals will learn who they'll face in the NCAA opening round and where at 9 p.m. on Sunday evening during the NCAA Selection Show, which can be viewed by CLICKING HERE.

Dave Dobbins' team has now won four straight games overall, and has also matched the program record for most wins in a single season with 16. The Cardinal defense stood tall all game long and held Stevens to only six goals, which is the fewest the Ducks have scored since March 4, 2017 against Tufts. The win also marks the first victory over Stevens for the Cardinals since a 7-5 win during the 2014 regular season.

Darin Eakins was named E8 Championship Most Valuable Player as the junior goalkeeper finished the championship game with a whopping 16 saves. Stevens was the first team on the scoreboard in the opening period of the championship game as the Ducks found the back of the net first at the 8:53 mark.

From there both sides were held scoreless for the majority of the first 15-miniute period, until Jack Mulvihill scored his 29^th goal of the season to put Fisher on the scoreboard and tie the game back up at one goal apiece.

As the second period of play got underway, the Fisher offense went to work as the Cardinals scored the game's next three goals to take a four-goal advantage. Pushing the Cardinals ahead by three goals were tallies from Chance Gates, Danny Turck, and Jordan Depetres.

Following the three-goal scoring run for the Cardinals, both teams would remain off of the scoreboard for the final eight minutes of the first half as Fisher would take its 4-1 lead into the halftime break.

Much like the first period, Stevens got on the board first as the third period got underway as the Ducks opened the second half with a tally just two minutes after the opening whistle. From there, both sides would trade goals as Depetres scored his second of the game to help keep the Fisher lead at two goals midway through the third period.

Nicholas Miller, who recently broke the E8 record for goals in a single season would score the game's next two goals at the 7:27 and 4:48 marks to push the Cardinals' lead to four heading into the final period. Fisher's offense continued to fire on all cylinders heading into the final period as three straight tallies opened up the visitors' largest lead of the day at seven goals. Early fourth period goal scorers included, Zach Wagner, Ian Evans, and Tucker O'Donnell.

Stevens was able to end the Fisher run at the 10:09 mark of the final quarter, however, Fisher quickly answered with another goal from Miller at the six-minute mark to give him a hat-trick on the day. As the fourth period continued, the Ducks were able to cut the Fisher lead back to five goals with back-to-back tallies just a minute and a half apart.

Not satisfied with a five-goal lead late in the final period, Wagner and Miller added two more goals to the Fisher total as the Cardinals capped off their first-ever conference championship in their 18th season of existence.  

As a team, Fisher outshot Stevens throughout the game 50-31, while also grabbing 45 ground balls compared to 29 for the Ducks. Joe Post continued his record-setting season, finishing 17-for-22 inside the faceoff circle and also grabbed a game-high 14 ground balls.

2019 Men's Lacrosse Tournament Schedule:
- All games to take place at the higher seed - 

Wednesday, May 1
Semifinal Round
No. 1 Stevens 17, No. 4 Nazareth 12
No. 2 St. John Fisher 22, #3 Hartwick 8

Saturday, May 4
Championship Final 
No. 2 St. John Fisher 13, #1 Stevens 6

- Information for this release provided by the athletic communications staff at St. John Fisher - 

ABOUT THE EMPIRE 8 CONFERENCE
The members of the Empire 8 Conference are committed first and foremost to the pursuit of academic excellence and the league is regarded as an outstanding NCAA Division III conference. The membership has distinguished itself among its peer group for its quality institutions, spirited and sportsmanlike competition, outstanding services and highly ethical policies and practices. Its commitment to serve the educational needs of its student-athletes is the hallmark of the E8. For more on the Empire 8 visit www.empire8.com and https://youtu.be/wzL4HcDoUUQ