Women's Soccer | 10/2/2021 4:00:00 PM
For the second time this season, freshman Kyra Kenyon scored two goals as the St. John Fisher College women's soccer team picked up its first Empire 8 win of the season on Saturday afternoon after outclassing visiting Houghton College, 6-1, inside Growney Stadium. With the win, Fisher improved to 5-3-0 and 1-1-0 in the conference standings while the Highlanders fell to 5-3-1 on the year and 0-2-1 against conference competition.
After peppering the Highlanders' defense with 15 shots over the first 36 minutes of play, the Cardinals finally broke through in the 37th minute when Tori Cruz delivered a pass across midfield and up the far sideline to Kenyon who beat Houghton's keeper to the spot and unloaded a shot into the back of the cage to stake Fisher to a 1-0 lead.
The home team padded its lead with just 34 seconds remaining in the opening half when Carli Kovarik played a ball to Isabella Peracchi who sent a cross in the middle of the box that Kenyon deposited into the corner of Houghton's goal to make it 2-0 heading into the break.
Coming out of halftime, Fisher kept its foot on the gas as Emma Spelman delivered a perfect ball on a corner to Kayla Rhude who headed it home for a 3-0 advantage. The Cardinals struck again just two minutes later when Jennifer Kirker corralled her own rebound and toed it in to push the lead to four goals.
Facing a steep climb, Houghton continued to battle down the stretch and cut the gap to three goals after scoring in the 59th minute, but that was as close as the Highlanders would get as Fisher pushed its lead back to four in the 64th minute after Alexis Gossage assisted on a goal by Spelman.
Already holding a 5-1 cushion, the Cardinals' offense continued to find open space as Emma Osterhoudt made a move deep in Houghton's territory before delivering a strike for her first-career goal.
In the 89th minute, Fisher scored on its second rebound of the day when Christina Van Allen tapped in a rebound off the foot of Alexandra Price as Fisher forged ahead, 7-1.
Halle Tickell earned the win in goal for the Cardinals after surrendering one goal over 75 minutes. Olivia Relyea played the final 15 minutes in goal and registered four saves.
The Cardinals will look to build on Saturday's win at 4 p.m. on Tuesday when they travel across town to take on the Rochester Institute of Technology Tigers in a non-conference pairing.