Women's Lacrosse | 5/16/2021 5:10:00 PM
WATERVILLE, Maine – The historic season continued for the nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College women's lacrosse team on Sunday as the Cardinals upended No. 10 Messiah, 9-5, to win an NCAA Regional Championship and advance to the program's first-ever NCAA National Semifinal next Saturday at Kerr Stadium in Salem, Va. With the win, Fisher, which is ranked ninth in the latest Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association national poll, moved to 18-1 after posting its 13th consecutive win while the Falcons had their season come to end at 18-1.
The Cardinals will take on the winner of No. 14 TCNJ and No. 3 Tufts on Saturday for a spot in the 2021 National Championship game, which will be played on Sunday.
Alyssa Sproule finished with three goals and an assist in the win while Brittany Halpin provided a big spark for Fisher's offense with four goals and 10 shots. Logan Chase assisted on two goals while Sydney DeGirolamo, who played the hero in Saturday's Sweet 16 win over William Smith, added one goal and seven draw controls in the win. Bianca Giacona found the back of the net once for Fisher while Courtney O'Dea handed out one assist.
Defensively, Fisher stymied the Falcons at every turn as the Cardinals allowed just 12 shots in the win and forced Messiah in to 18 turnovers. Claudia Mocciaro moved to 18-1 between the pipes this season as the senior allowed just five goals and came away with five stops in 60 minutes.
After testing the waters over the first six minutes of play, Fisher would strike as Chase paired up with Halpin for a goal to stake the Cardinals to an early lead. The advantage would grow three minutes later with Chase facilitating another goal as she hit DeGirolamo on the far side to double Fisher's lead.
Holding a two-goal advantage just past the midway point of the first half, Halpin blew past the Falcons' defense and unloaded a shot into the back of the net to lift the Cardinals to an early 3-0 edge.
Trailing by three, Messiah got on the board at the 6:07 mark, but was unable to stop Fisher on the other end as Giacona scored on a feed from Sproule to make it a 4-1 affair.
With time winding down in the first half, Messiah was able to cut the gap in half with a goal at 1:15 to make it 4-2 as the horn signaled halftime.
Coming out of the break, Fisher turned up the intensity on the defensive end of the field and forced Messiah in to five turnovers over a 13-minute stretch before O'Dea whipped a pass to Halpin who pushed the lead to 5-2 with 17:15 left to play in regulation.
Leading by three, Fisher looked to extend its cushion, but the Falcons found their footing and scored two unanswered goals including a free position tally to pull to within one, 5-4.
With the tides beginning to shift, Fisher reclaimed the momentum when Sproule scored back-to-back goals to push the margin back to three with under six minutes still showing on the clock.
Needing a late push, Messiah was able to clear the ball out of its zone and score with 3:35 left to play, but the Falcons ran out of steam as Halpin scored on a free position before Sproule put an exclamation mark on the win with just 29 seconds remaining to send Fisher to its first-ever appearance in the Final Four.