Field Hockey | 4/23/2021 7:21:54 PM
Top-seed St. John Fisher College and No. 2 seed Hartwick College will meet for the 2021 Empire 8 Spring Field Hockey Championship after earning semifinal victories on their respective home fields Friday. The Cardinals defeated No. 5 seed Nazareth College, 6-0, while Hartwick shutout Houghton, 3-0. St. John Fisher's Bre Socker scored five goals to tie an Empire 8 record.
The Cardinals will host Hartwick in the championship match on Sunday, April 25 at 5:30 p.m. from Growney Stadium. St. John Fisher defeated Hartwick, 3-2 in overtime during the regular season on April 3. Hartwick is looking to win its second straight Empire 8 Championship and fifth in program history, while the Cardinals are attempting to win their second league title.
NO. 1 ST. JOHN FISHER 6, NO. 5 NAZARETH 0
Bre Socker tied an Empire 8 single-game record and broke the St. John Fisher mark by scoring five goals in St. John Fisher's 6-0 win. She scored once in each of the first three quarters and tallied twice in the fourth quarter for the five-goal outburst. She equaled Kara Borzillo of Stevens, who scored five times in a win over Elmira on On Oct. 13, 2007.
Socker also became the program's all-time leader in points on Friday night, as she passed All-American Emily Markarian in the record book with 183 career points and now needs just three goals to surpass Markarian's all-time mark of 179 career goals. Socker further etched her name in the program's all-time top performances as her five goals and 10 points are the most a Cardinals' player has ever accounted for in a single game.With the win, Fisher improved to 5-0 and advanced to the conference title game while the Golden Flyers' season came to a close with a 2-4 overall record.
The Cardinals got on the board in just the fourth minute as
Allison Bartlett sent a corner feed to the top of the arc where Socker, who was named the National Field Hockey Coaches Association Offensive Player of the Week on Tuesday, dumped it in to
Alyssa Andres who redirected the ball back to Bartlett to make it a 1-0 affair.
As the first quarter continued, Fisher would double its lead when Socker punched in a rebound with 28 seconds remaining to make it 2-0 heading into the second.
Already holding a two-goal advantage, the Cardinals tacked on a third goal in the 26th minute after forcing a turnover in Nazareth's end as Bartlett sent a pass in front of the cage that Socker deposited into the back of the net to make it 3-0 at the end of the first half of play.
Coming out of the break, Socker struck again in the 44th minute on a breakaway and would repeat the play five minutes later with her fourth goal of the game on another 1-on-1 situation.
Holding a five-goal margin with time winding down, Fisher scored again with Socker firing one into the right corner of the cage for a 6-0 lead.
Sophia Trozzi moved to 5-0 in goal for the Cardinals as the freshman did not face a shot on goal over 60 minutes.Socker
NO. 2 HARTWICK 3, NO. 3 HOUGHTON 0
Hartwick broke a string of eight straight one-goal games between the two sides in a 3-0 win Friday. The victory sends the second-seeded Hawks (4-1) into the Empire 8 Championship for the second consecutive season, while the third-seeded Highlanders end their campaign at 2-4.
Hartwick wasted little time grabbing the advantage on their home turf. After some nifty Sydney Gagnon (Chestertown, NY/North Warren Central) moves turned into a 'Wick penalty corner, the Hawks earned a subsequent corner and then broke the ice. Rebecca Peakes (West Chester, PA/Unionville) sent one short to Emily Strutt (Pleasant Valley, NY/Arlington), whose high shot was knocked away by goalkeeper Sofia Gildemeister with her stick. Unfortunately for Gildemeister, Leah Tolley (Pittsford, NY/Pittsford Mendon) was on high alert and batted the ball out of midair and into the cage for a 1-0 lead at 3:48.
Peakes sent it to Julie Ruzzi (High Falls, NY/Rondout Valley) at the top of the circle before Ruzzi shepherded it to her classmate Strutt. Strutt sent one hard and low towards the cage that Tolley redirected in for a two-goal advantage at 17:36.
Hartwick got their third tally a few minutes later, though, when Robinson and Gagnon executed a picture-perfect give-and-go that left the senior captain all alone in point-blank range. Robinson made no mistake, firing home her first career postseason goal at 29:16 to send the hosts into the half with a 3-0 advantage.
Hartwick had a 17-5 shot advantage for the game, inclusive of an 11-3 lead in shots on goal.
2021 Empire 8 Field Hockey Championship Schedule
Wednesday, April 21 - First Round
#5 Nazareth College defeats #4 Utica College, 5-2 – STATS
Friday, April 23 - Semifinals
#2 Hartwick College defeats #3 Houghton College, 3-0 - STATS
#5 Nazareth College at #1 St. John Fisher College – 7:30 pm – VIDEO – LIVE STATS
Sunday, April 25 - Championship
#2 Hartwick College vs. Winner of Semifinal #2 – TBA at Highest Remaining Seed