Women's Lacrosse | 5/15/2021 3:33:00 PM
WATERVILLE, MAINE – Sydney DeGirolamo scored what turned out to be the game-winning goal with just 33 seconds remaining in the game to lift the nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College women's lacrosse team to its first Elite 8 appearance in team history after defeating the No. 16 William Smith Herons, 10-9, on Saturday in the NCAA Division III Championship at Colby College on Bill Alfond Field. With the win, Fisher, which is ranked ninth in the latest Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association poll, improved to 17-1 while William Smith had its season come to an end in the Sweet 16 at 10-5.
It was all Fisher from the opening whistle as the Cardinals stormed out to an early lead after Brittany Halpin found the back on the net twice over the first three minutes to stake the Cardinals to a two-goal cushion.
Trailing by a pair, William Smith called a timeout to regroup and accounted for two shots in a span on 18 seconds, but Claudia Mocciaro held her ground and came up with a big save to keep the Herons off the board.
After clearing the ball out of its defensive zone, Fisher continued to push the pace and was awarded a free position opportunity with 23:31 showing on the clock as Alyssa Sabotka found an opening and gave the Cardinals a 3-0 edge.
As the opening half continued, Fisher's momentum seemed to wane as the Herons began to find a rhythm after scoring at the 5:16 and 10:41 marks of the first half to pull to within one, 3-2.
With the scoreboard still showing a one-goal gap, Fisher weathered the Herons' surge and fired back as Sydney DeGirolamo found Mackenzie Alexander for a goal before pairing up with Logan Chase for a man-up tally to send the Cardinals into the locker room at halftime holding a 5-2 advantage.
Coming out of the break, Fisher tacked on another goal when DeGirolamo beat the Herons' keeper to make it 6-2, but the tides would turn as William Smith scored six unanswered goals over a span of 15 minutes to open up a two-goal lead, 8-6, with under 10 minutes to go.
Facing its first deficit of the game, the Cardinals pulled to within one at 9:20 when Alyssa Sproule found the back of the net and would score the equalizer just two minutes later with Alexander accounting for her second goal of the game.
All tied at eight goals aside, William Smith would forge ahead with a free position goal at 6:21, but the Cardinals had an answer 1:38 later as Alexander found nylon to level the game at 9-9.
With under four minutes to play, both teams looked to control the pace. With William Smith possessing the ball and time winding down, Mocciaro made a huge save as Fisher cleared the ball and called a timeout to draw up a plan. After passing the ball around the perimeter, DeGirolamo was able to draw a free position as the Empire 8 Player of the Year buried the game-winning goal and propelled Fisher to its first-ever appearance in the NCAA Quarterfinal pairing.
Mocciaro was dominant between the pipes for Fisher as the Syracuse native made 10 saves over 60 minutes including two in the final two minutes.
DeGirolamo finished with five points including two goals and three assists along with 10 draw controls while Alexander netted a hat trick for head coach
Linda Michele's team.
Fisher will play again at 2 p.m. on Sunday when it takes on Messiah College for a chance to advance to the Final Four.